THE State Procurement Board has awarded the contract for the construction of the 30 megawatt Gairezi hydro power station to local firm, Intratrek Zimbabwe.

Wicknell Monudaani Chivayo, who is also known as B.I.G or Sir Wicknell on Facebook, has some business interests in Intratrek Zimbabwe.

The hydro power project was awarded to the lowest bidder to specification at a cost of US$128 million, sources privy to the developments told our Harare Bureau this week.

“The SPB awarded the Gairezi hydro project tender to Intratrek, but it must be clear that this was because the tender had to be awarded to the lowest bidder to specification, which in this case was Intratek,” a source said.

The other bidder had the cost at US$165 million.

ZPC, a subsidiary of Zesa in charge of generating electricity, was granted a licence for the project last year and feasibility studies for the project had been concluded.

Zesa’s power generation unit proposed to develop the Gairezi Mini Hydro Power Plant on Gairezi River. The project is situated 275km north-east of the capital city, Harare and 120km from Mutare, in Manicaland.

It is expected the project will take between 25 and 35 months to complete and the engineering phase, which involves generation of specifications, tendering for engineering, procurement and construction contractor and environmental assessment has been going on all along.
Intratrek will develop the 30 megawatt power station with ample support from two Indian electrical engineering giants, including Angelico International Limited.

This becomes another major, though smaller to the first, project Intratrek has snapped after signing a $202 million contract with ZPC for the Gwanda solar project. The Gwanda solar power plant will generate 100MW.

Zimbabwe is experiencing huge power deficits, negatively impacting on industrial, commercial and domestic activities and ultimately causing indelible damage to the economy, with the country generating an average of 900MW out of a requirement of 2,200MW.

The power situation has been worsened by the reduction of generation at the 750MW Kariba South hydro power plant due to falling lake water levels at Kariba Dam after poor hydrological year in its catchment area. Kariba’s Generation has been cut to 475MW.

The falling water levels of the dam prompted the Zambezi River Authority, which administers the river, to lower water allocation for ZPC and its Zambia counterpart ZESCO, which draw water from the Kariba.

The Gairezi is one of a number of power generation projects the government, through ZPC, is working on to bridge the country’s debilitating chronic power shortages.

Other projects include expansion of Kariba by 300MW, extension of Hwange Thermal Station by another 600MW, repowering of small thermals in Bulawayo, Munyati and Harare to add another 300MW.

ZPC is also seeking to develop the Mutare peaking power plant, which runs on dual fuel system that combines diesel and gas to be drawn from Mozambique. ZPC is also working around Batoka, in a joint venture with Zambia’s ZESCO, for another 2,000MW.

Several other projects are being pursued after the government issued power generation licences to independent power producers, but the majority of them are yet to take off due to challenges in securing funding. by Golden Sibanda
Source: chronicle