Zimbabwe power loan worthwhile: NamPower official

A N$280 million loan NamPower gave Zimbabwe to overhaul a coal-fired power station in return for electricity, would indeed be paid back, a NamPower official insisted yesterday.

The loan, which has stirred national debate, was sealed when President Robert Mugabe came on a State visit to Namibia a year ago. It was issued in US dollars.Namibia is however buying the electricity from the Hwange power station in western Zimbabwe and taxpayers have been wondering if they will have to foot the bill, as NamPower said last week that Zimbabwe would repay the loan in electricity and not in cash.On the sidelines of a business breakfast meeting in Windhoek yesterday, Bertholdt ua Mbuere, Chief Operating Officer at NamPower, told The Namibian that the power deal was beneficial for Namibia.”Yes, we buy that electricity from Hwange, but it works like this: Electricity costs say 30 cents per kilowatt hour in southern Africa, but we buy it from Hwange for four or five cents less as an example.The price difference in our favour is then actually the loan repayment plus interest and it runs over five years at 150 mega watts of electricity supply 24 hours per day,” according to Ua Mbuere.He was at pains to explain that the monetary figures he gave were just an example as the contract details between the two parties were confidential.Namibia would have a secure electricity supply, while helping its neighbour to refurbish an aged power station, he said.Once all four generators at Hwange were overhauled and running at full capacity, Hwange would again be able to supply more electricity to Namibia, said Ua Mbuere.Mozambique stopped power exports to Zimbabwe recently, because it was in arrears with payments running into millions of US dollars.In 1996, President Robert Mugabe decided to award a contract to expand and privatise the Hwange power station to a Malaysian company.Four European companies and one from the US lost out.According to international media reports, Western governments were furious.Zimbabwean ambassadors in Western capitals, according to President Mugabe, were summoned to explain the decision but he said, “I told them to go to hell, because the Hwange thermal plant is ours and we will do what we want with it.”It was issued in US dollars.Namibia is however buying the electricity from the Hwange power station in western Zimbabwe and taxpayers have been wondering if they will have to foot the bill, as NamPower said last week that Zimbabwe would repay the loan in electricity and not in cash.On the sidelines of a business breakfast meeting in Windhoek yesterday, Bertholdt ua Mbuere, Chief Operating Officer at NamPower, told The Namibian that the power deal was beneficial for Namibia.”Yes, we buy that electricity from Hwange, but it works like this: Electricity costs say 30 cents per kilowatt hour in southern Africa, but we buy it from Hwange for four or five cents less as an example.The price difference in our favour is then actually the loan repayment plus interest and it runs over five years at 150 mega watts of electricity supply 24 hours per day,” according to Ua Mbuere.He was at pains to explain that the monetary figures he gave were just an example as the contract details between the two parties were confidential.Namibia would have a secure electricity supply, while helping its neighbour to refurbish an aged power station, he said.Once all four generators at Hwange were overhauled and running at full capacity, Hwange would again be able to supply more electricity to Namibia, said Ua Mbuere.Mozambique stopped power exports to Zimbabwe recently, because it was in arrears with payments running into millions of US dollars.In 1996, President Robert Mugabe decided to award a contract to expand and privatise the Hwange power station to a Malaysian company.Four European companies and one from the US lost out.According to international media reports, Western governments were furious.Zimbabwean ambassadors in Western capitals, according to President Mugabe, were summoned to explain the decision but he said, “I told them to go to hell, because the Hwange thermal plant is ours and we will do what we want with it.”