Morupule B funding goes before Parliament

Staff Writer | Friday March 12, 2010 00:00

 

The loans will complement the government's own commitments to the project.

In an atmosphere of severely reduced revenues, the Morupule B station is among a handful of projects the government has prioritised for development. Output from the ambitious project is expected in January 2012.

According to the Government Gazette, the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning will soon present two bills before Parliament for the authorisation of loans towards Morupule B. One bill seeks the National Assembly to authorise the borrowing of P931 million from the World Bank, while the other seeks authority to raise P1.4 billion.

According to the Government Gazette, the World Bank loan will be targeted at aspects of transmission and water components of the expanded power station, while ADB's funding will go towards transmission components.

The Morupule B project involves the establishment of a 600 megawatt (MW) power station which will use four 150 MW generator units powered by coal from the adjacent Morupule Colliery. China National Electric Equipment Corporation (CNEEC) has already been engaged - on a turnkey basis - as the Engineering, Procurement and Construction manager.

Morupule B will complement the original 132 MW station, Morupule A, which is presently incapable of supplying the country's power needs of about 500 MW at peak periods.

The project is a 600MW (4 x 150MW units) coal-fired, air-cooled power plant and will be constructed adjacent to the existing 132MW Morupule Power Station (Morupule A) near Palapye.