PHILLIMON MHLANGA
Officials from the Rwanda Energy Group (REG) will today tour Zimbabwe’s largest coal-fired plant, Hwange Power Station, multiple sources have said.
As was first reported by Business Times last week, the REG officials arrived in Harare on Sunday.
Well-placed government and ZESA Group sources told Business Times that the REG officials held meetings with ZESA Group where they exchanged notes on the electricity supply situation in Zimbabwe and Rwanda. Some parallel committees also met in areas of cooperation.
Business Times can report that the REG officials also paid a courtesy call on Energy and Power Development minister, Zhemu Soda.
They also met the City of Harare’s Public Lighting department. They also toured ZENT transformer manufacturing plant.
Yesterday, the REG and ZESA Group officials visited Masvingo where they toured a net metering factory and Tokwe substation. They then left for Victoria Falls the same day.
And today, they will tour Hwange Power Station, well-placed sources said.
All efforts to get an official comment from ZESA Holdings were futile.
The REG officials’ visit to Zimbabwe comes after ZESA and REG signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) last year in Kigali, Rwanda, on the cooperation between the two companies.
The MoU runs for five years, with the possibility of being renewed.
The MoU was signed between ZESA executive chairman, Gata and REG chief executive officer, Ron Weiss. Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Rwanda, Charity Manyeruke, witnessed the signing ceremony.
The agreement provides the framework of cooperation and aims at laying the foundation for the establishment of a business understanding which may lead to signing of the energy infrastructure implementation partnerships agreements between the two parties.
The MoU covers areas including energy generation, transmission, reduction of energy losses, and capacity building of personnel.
Each part will benefit from each other’s experience in the implementation of energy projects.
