Zera urged to speed up power connectivity

THE Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera) board has been urged to quickly address challenges that have hindered the achievement of the connection of more than 50 percent of Zimbabweans to the national electricity grid.

Speaking at the announcement of two additional board members on Monday, Energy and Power Development Minister Zhemu Soda said there was a need for the board to come up with initiatives to unlock challenges in the power sector for progress in the power projects that have failed to take off.

“Issues of power supply are very critical. Over 50 percent of the country is yet to be connected to the grid. Again over 60 licensed independent power projects which have a total capacity of 7000 megawatts are yet to take off owing to a variety of challenges. You are expected to contribute towards unlocking these challenges in the power sector and ensure there is progress in these projects,” he said.

The Minister incorporated Mrs Getrude Siyai Chikava and Ms Sheila Rufu into the new board announced in January this year.

He said the new board members should play their part in ensuring that the country achieves set targets in line with Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy (NDS1).

He said the additional members of the board allowed the regulatory authority to carry out its mandate within the confines of the law.

“The country envisions joining the league of upper middle income states by 2030 and access and provision of clean, affordable and reliable energy is a critical enable to the attainment of this vision.

“A lot will be expected from you to provide regulatory guidance to the entire energy sector in Zimbabwe. It is my expectation that you rise to the regulatory issues where you should conduct yourselves without fear or favour,” he added.

Minister Soda said work to promote competitive bidding and procurement of power generation projects had already commenced after the Government had realised that some of the power projects were not succeeding due to lack of financial credibility or technical deficiency to progress up to financial closure.

He said corruption had no room in the energy sector and urged the board to be transparent, accountable, professional and maintain integrity in the execution of their tasks.