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Hwange thermal power station is ready to resume operating at full capacity following refurbishment work by Zesa Holdings and Namibia Power Corporation (Pty) Ltd (NamPower), provided coal supply can be maintained, The Herald newspaper reported.

Zimbabwe appeals for funds but international investors remain wary

Following the end of its civil war, Angola has become an increasingly assertive regional player, reflected in a number of security deals – projecting the powerful Forças Armadas Angolanas (FAA) beyond Angola’s borders, notably in Brazzaville and Kinshasa – and in its determination to support Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe.

With the military top brass that prop up his régime boycotting the mid-February ceremony to launch a long-awaited national unity government, President Robert Mugabe and his allies are manoeuvring, as ever, to hobble his key political opponent and new Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Company (Zesa) still owes money to the Cahora Bassa dam operating company Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB), despite promises to clear its debt.

Despite Zimbabwe’s catastrophic political and humanitarian situation, work on rehabilitating the Hwange thermal power station is progressing, with financing from Namibian parastatal NamPower (AE 131/6). “Units 3 and 1 have been refurbished in full while unit 4 should be completed early in January 2009,” John Langford, NamPower’s project leader responsible for Hwange’s refurbishment, told African Energy.

Mugabe did a public deal to share power with Tsvangirai, but the octogenarian president has no intention of stepping back, and Zimbabwe’s political and economic crisis thus shows no sign of letting up.

Taking risk on the cash-strapped utility Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) has been low on anybody’s list of priorities in recent years. However, African Energy was told that Namibia Power Corporation’s deal with Zesa

Engen Petroleum has concluded a sale and purchase agreement to buy Royal Dutch Shell’s downstream business interests in Lesotho and Zimbabwe. The Malaysian-owned company said it was buying Shell’s share in a joint venture with BP in Zimbabwe, and taking a long-term view that the economy would recover.

As its real economy collapses, Zimbabwe seems condemned to suffering an ever-worsening power crisis. But at a regional level NamPower’s rescue deal for Zesa has started to bear fruit, with the first electricity flowing across the border into the Namibian grid.

AfDB – first private equity investment in Maghreb; CADF $90m for four projects; US EX-IM Sub-Saharan Africa Advisory Committee

Perenco to supply gas to Kribi plant; OCI to build Sidi Krir project; Chinese commit to $90m rural electrification scheme; Steel company orders equipment; HCB resumes supply to Zesa; Arab fund provides Roseires funding