The Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA) has kicked off the procurement process for the design and construction supervision of the Oxbow Hydropower Scheme. Interested firms have until March 13, 2023, to submit their bids.
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has confirmed that government will take over between one-third and two-thirds of Eskom’s R400-billion debt, as intense loadshedding, which government expects to persist for 18 months, contributed to a downward revision to the country’s growth outlook. The National Treasury is now forecasting real gross domestic product growth of only 1.9% for 2022, having projected growth of 2.1% in the 2022 Budget Review published in February.
Better-than-expected revenue collection enabled Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana to report an improvement in government’s fiscal position relative to the one forecast in the February Budget. However, slowing global and domestic growth together with ongoing power cuts pose a risk to the fiscal outlook, as does the prospect of a higher-than-budgeted public-service wage settlement.
Repurposing Eskom’s coal-fired power station, Komati, would cost around R7.9-billion, project documents from the World Bank show. Eskom has been engaging with the World Bank in providing funding for the re-powering and repurposing of Komati. The power station’s first unit was commissioned in 1961, and it had nine operational units, each with a capacity of 100MW. The last unit is to be decommissioned at the end of October. But Eskom has relied on multiple socioeconomic assessments to determine how to give the power station, situated in Mpumalanga, a second life so that it can continue to support the local economy and livelihoods of those in the affected region.
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