19 Mar 2014

Government is worried by the underperformance of Morupule B Power Station and persistent power cuts.

The Minister of Minerals Energy and Water Resources, Mr Kitso Mokaila said this when briefing Botswana Federation of Trade Union (BFTU) general council meeting on electricity crisis on Tuesday, March 18.

He told the meeting that the Morupule B Power Station had not lived to expectations despite government having relied upon it to meet the country’s demands.

Minister Mokaila said the country’s economic growth was dependent on electricity provision hence government was taking steps to address the current power shortage.  He said government was currently refurbishing some units of the multibillion pula project following persistent defects.

The refurbishment followed an assessment, which was undertaken to identify the cause of boiler defects, which had revealed that the contractor failed to follow the initial project design.

The minister added that the modifications were on-going at some of the Morupule plant units, adding unit one was the only unit that had not been modified because it had not experienced failures.

Minister Mokaila promised the first unit would be added to the national grid before the end of March while the other would be added before the end of next month.

He added that if fully operational, Morupule B would be able to meet the national electricity demand, adding each of the four Morupule B plant units produce 150 megawatts. One megawatt can supply a village as big as Mmadinare.

Apart from Morupule B Power Station, he said the government also had the Orapa Turbine 90 megawatts Power Plant, Matshelagabedi generators as well as 100 megawatts supply from Eskom on fixed bases, and another 200 megawatts on non-fixed basis.

Further, he added that to safeguard the country going forward, they are modifying Morupule A Power Plant which will contribute about 300 megawatts to the national grid. The minister added that in the future, government would allow independent power producers.

For his part, Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) chief executive officer, Mr Jacob Raleru said the project had not yet encountered any cost overruns.

However, he added there was consequential budget due to delays in handing the project. He added the project defect labiality period had not yet commenced and noted that it would start when the last unit was handed to the government.

Further, he added language barrier was one of the major problems which contributed to the many challenges faced by the project.

Botswana Federation of Trade Unions president Mr Bahithetswe Lentswe acknowledged that since last year, the country had been experienced unprecedented power cuts. He said the power cuts were a threat to the country’s economy as they affected business, as some were forced to operate only for a few hours.

The Morupule Power station was constructed by Chinese company, China National Electric Equipment Corporation (CNEEC). ENDS