Mmegi

Govt extends bidding for 200MW tender

Eyeing solar: Moagi says several renewable energy projects are in pipeline PIC: MBONGENI MGUNI
Eyeing solar: Moagi says several renewable energy projects are in pipeline PIC: MBONGENI MGUNI

Minerals and Energy minister, Lefoko Moagi, says government's tender for a private contractor to develop a 200 megawatt Concentrated Solar-Thermal Power (CSP) plant has been extended to close later this month.

In November 2022, the Ministry published a shortlist of four international firms which it said were in the running to design, finance, and build what will be government’s largest single procurement in renewable energy. The bidders were a consortium comprising Power China Resources Limited and Shandong Electric Power Construction Corporation III, another partnership involving the China-Africa Development Fund and Shouhang High Tech Energy, as well as ACWA Power Company and Cobra Industrial Services.

However, presenting the Ministry’s budget proposals for the 2024-25 financial year last week, Moagi did not shed light on the shortlist, but rather said the Botswana Power Corporation has secured 100 hectares of land in Maun for the CSP project. He added that the Corporation was seeking an additional 150 hectares for the project from land authorities.

Editor's Comment
The State apparatus must be sanitised

When the State cannot rely on its own machinery to pursue suspected wrongdoing, repairing that machinery must become a national priority.The establishment of a Special Investigations and Asset Recovery Task Force may help government respond to the immediate challenge. However, Botswana cannot afford to leave the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) and the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) struggling whilst building...

Have a Story? Send Us a tip
arrow up