GOVERNMENT HAS POWER PROVISION PLAN IN PLACE - MOKAILA Mmoniemang Motsamai reporting for BOPA Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, Mr Kitso Mokaila has told Parliament that government has a clear vision on the provision of power supply in the country. Delivering a statement on power supply situation to Parliament on Monday, March 17, Mr Mokaila said the vision was well articulated in the national development plans (NDPs) 8, 9 and 10, with implementation starting during NDP 8 which dealt with providing Batswana with affordable power. The minister said he felt obliged to inform the nation of the status of power supply to clear the misconceptions created by the statement by the Leader of the Opposition (LOO), Mr Dumelang Saleshando in Parliament last week. Mr Mokaila said NDP 8, made provision for the need to build financial reserves that were to be used as leverage when negotiating power supply agreements. NDP 9 focused on the need for self-sufficiency while NDP 10 focused on the creation of assets to make the country self-sufficient, he said. He noted that from these NDPs, the policy direction was clear and the issue of achieving self-sufficiency or having the necessary leverage to ensure that the country had the necessary where withal to construct a power plant was equally well defined. “What failed the country was the project execution of the 600MW Morupule B Power Station. This is something I conceded in my two ministerial statements to this august house,” he said. Furthermore, he noted that the development of Orapa 90MW, renting of 70MW at Matshelagabedi and the development of the Morupule B Power Plant with the delivery of the first section being January 15, 2012 all took into account the reducing level of imports. The NDPs are very clear on future provisions of power in the country, the LOO’s statement on the strategy of the provision of power being short sighted, should be seen in the context of achieving political mileage out of a very trying and unfortunate situation, he said. Mr Mokaila said Unit 1 of Morupule B Plant was currently running and would be taken out of service, for boiler modifications, once three other units were brought back into service and at an appropriate time. Mr Mokaila said modifications of boilers two and three were completed and that the units were to be brought into service by the end of March and April respectively, barring the unforeseen. He said he met with the new president of China National Electric Equipment Corporation (CNEEC) on March 4, who made a firm commitment to address the concerns. “At site there has been a marked improvement in terms of responsiveness and cooperation with other stakeholders by CNEEC,” he said. Mr Mokaila said his ministry was also reviewing various options, in terms of procuring power from neighbouring countries to ensure there were belts and braces for firming up of the country’s electricity supplies. He said government’s commitment to ensuring achievement of project closure to the development of the power plant was total, with failure being no option. The minister stated that Unit 2 was the only unit of the four which had not yet been taken over by Botswana Power Corporation. He said the boiler had been modified as per the recommendations of the designers and was expected to be brought in service by the end of April. As for Unit 3, Mr Mokaila said boiler modifications had been completed and was expected to be brought into service by the end of March 2014. He said Unit 4 was shut down on March 6, 2014 on account of boiler tube leaks and that the boiler would be modified and the timelines of its being brought back to service were still being evaluated. In addition, the minister said load shedding experienced beginning March 3 was deeply regretted, as it was necessary to save essential services using limited electricity supply available during times when demand exceeds supply. He also thanked the South African government for their consistent support the country, adding without their continued support, the extent and duration of the load shedding would have had far reaching consequences on the economy. Furthermore, Minister Mokaila refuted allegations that the nation at large was not kept informed on the power situation at Morupule B Project in particular, citing that his ministry had held nine talk shows, two ministerial statements, answered some questions in Parliament and had had a site visit by MPs. He said some of the quotes by the LOO created serious distortions, “What the LOO tried to achieve through the distortions is to appeal to people’s hearts, which are a source of emotions, as opposed to appealing to the intellect of the body politic. This is of course, an easy way out but not the best as through distortion of facts one could be perceived to be entering the realm of intellectual dishonesty.” He said at this juncture, energy and focus should be on revolving the current power crisis rather than engaging in meaningless witch hunt informed by political expediency. Regarding remarks made about the Vice President, Mr Mokaila said they were most unfortunate and came both as a surprise and shock, as the Vice President’s intellect and humility were well known. “He has led a distinguished career and his reputation precedes him. He has earned his respect and he deserves respect,” said Minister Mokaila. In the previous week, Mr Saleshando made a statement in Parliament that the ruling party lacks vision on the country’s power supply. He also stated that the strategy on provision of power was short sighted and that the nation was not kept abreast on power outages.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 07:00:55 +0000
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