ELECTRICITY
AfDB will consider more funding for Eskom � Kaberuka
By: Matthew Hill
13th September 2010
African Development Bank (AfDB) president Donald Kaberuka at the
weekend said that the financial institution would consider stumping up
further funding to South African power utility Eskom, and that there
was "no doubt" that the Grand Inga hydropower project would happen
"soon".
AfDB had already loaned $1,6-billion to Eskom for the construction of
the Medupi coal-fired power station in Lephalale, in Limpopo province,
and had "full confidence in the financial sustainability of Eskom",
Kaberuka told Engineering News Online.
"What's important is South Africa, as the regional powerhouse, must
have energy for its own economy - for its mining sector - but also to
feed into the power pools of the region. If South Africa doesn't have
enough power, it is [also] Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, and Namibia,"
he said on the sidelines of the World Energy Congress in Montreal.
"I'm confident that Eskom is a financially sustainable company going
forward."
Cash-strapped Eskom had previously said it would have to delay the
Kusile coal-fired power station being built near Emalahleni, in
Mpumalanga province.
The South African government may provide the power utility with
further debt guarantees if required, Bloomberg quoted the National
Treasury director-general as saying last week.
Asked if the AfDB would consider providing funding for Kusile
specifically, Kaberuka said: "I'd consider any project which is
financially viable, which makes economic sense, and which helps South
Africa close the energy gap. It is critically important that we do
that."
Kaberuka said that energy projects were absorbing one-half of the
AfDB's financing, and that this was still not enough.
He said that less than one-fifth of the continent's hydropower
potential had been tapped.
Offering the biggest potential was the Grand Inga project in the
Democratic Republic of Congo, but little progress had been made thus
far.
Still, Kaberuka was upbeat about its future.
"There are issues to be resolved, but there is no doubt in my mind
that Grand Inga will happen soon," he said, without saying by when.
Edited by: Creamer Media Reporter
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