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‘GOVT SHOULD MAINTAIN 100 P.C. STAKE IN POWER SECTOR’

By KETRA KALUNGA

GOVERNMENT should own 100 percent of power production through Zesco as commercializing the sector will lead to a drastic increase in tariffs, the private sector has said.

Private Sector Development Association (PSDA) chairperson, Yusuf Dodia, said Government should have a major stake because Independent Power Producers (IPPs) “mercilessly” want more profit every year.

He noted that if the country keeps looking to IPPs whose aim is to make more profits, then the cost of electricity in Zambia would continue shooting up.

Mr Dodia said in an interview that it would be difficult for the country’s economy to grow with the high cost of electricity.

He said this was so because production would become so expensive that it would be cheaper to import any product rather than to manufacture it from within.

Government, he said, should take ownership of power production and put in place a policy that would compel people to pay reasonably high taxes in order to have access to cheaper and constant electricity.

“We shouldn’t be talking of Zesco crying about IPPs, it’s a mistake we made, moving towards the philosophy of running electricity like a business, we need to reverse that mistake by taking ownership of power production,” he said.

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