BLOOMBERG — Zimbabwe and Zambia will this week discuss the construction of a 1 600 megawatt hydro-energy plant at Batoka Gorge in the Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwean Energy minister Elton Mangoma said. “We expect negotiations with Zambia to be concluded by December now that we’ve agreed to settle a legacy debt owed by us,” Mangoma said on Tuesday.
Zimbabwe owes Zambia about $71 million, which will be paid by mid-2014, Mangoma said. The debt dates back to the 1950s when the two countries were joined in a federation under British colonial rule.
The Batoka hydropower plant will cost about $4 billion, Zambian Energy minister Christopher Yaluma said in February. The Batoka gorge lies downstream from Victoria Falls, which forms the world’s largest sheet of falling water.
“By December, we aim to jointly publish expressions of interest in the build-operate-and-transfer joint venture,” Mangoma said. The plant should be operational by 2019, he said.
“By 2040, Zimbabwe plans to produce 20 000 megawatts of power because we’ve put into law the right for independent power producers to operate,” Mangoma said.
Zimbabwe’s State-owned power utility Zesa Holdings (Pvt) Ltd is owed about $660 million by consumers, sufficient to increase power generation from its Kariba hydropower plant without borrowing, Mangoma added.
