The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group has approved a loan of €153 million to the Government of Botswana, to finance specific components of the Morupule B power station and associated transmission infrastructure, a release said.
The project involves the construction of a 600-MW (4 x 150 MW) coal fired power plant and associated transmission infrastructure, AfDB said, indicating that the loan was approved on Wednesday in Tunis, Tunisia.
The Morupule B plant will be located adjacent to the existing Morupule A plant, and connected to the national grid by two new transmission lines, the release added.
“Designed to help the country achieve energy self-sufficiency, the project will, on completion, support economic growth and reduce poverty”.
Botswana has, until now, relied on the importation of electricity to meet its growing demand : 500 MW in 2008 and around 600 MW projected for 2012.
On 2008, 80% of the electricity supplied in Botswana consisted of imports from neighboring countries, notably from South Africa. The remaining 20% “was generated by the country’s Morupule A, a 25-year-old plant”.
However, as a result of the acute energy crisis in the region, neighboring countries are rapidly reducing exports to Botswana, and the country has been forced to resort to load shedding since 2008.
Imports will be further reduced in coming years and are expected to be fully discontinued by 2013.
The Morupule B project will help in the realization of the government’s strategy to increase household access rates from 47% to 80% by 2016 and meet the national objective of “energy security”.
The US$ 1.4 billion project will also be beneficial to the region as a whole, since it will enable Botswana to become a net energy exporter by 2014.
The AfDB is providing 15% of the project cost. The other contributors include China’s ICBC Standard Bank (59%), the Government of Botswana (15%) and the World Bank (11%) .
Source African Press Agency
