A STAND off between the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) and the
Zimbabwe Power Company over the demolition of cooling towers at the Bulawayo
Thermal Power Station looms after council officials yesterday walked out of a
stakeholders’ meeting.
BCC and the Zimbabwe Power Company are embroiled in a
dispute over the ownership of the Bulawayo Power Station with the municipality
claiming $106 million in unpaid royalties from the power utility.
During a stakeholders meeting held at the Zimbabwe Power
Company (ZPC) boardroom in Bulawayo yesterday, council and the residents
associations accused the power company of failing to consult them over the
pending demolition of the two cooling towers at the power station.
The meeting, which was attended by Bulawayo Provincial
Affairs Minister Judith Ncube, the Mayor, Councillor Solomon Mguni, acting town
clerk Mrs Sikhangele Zhou, councillors, residents associations representatives,
officials from Zesa, among other stakeholders, was presided over by Energy and
Power Development Minister Advocate Fortune Chasi who was accompanied by his
permanent secretary Dr Gloria Magombo.
Representing council, the Mayor said it was not their
intent to frustrate power generation in the city.
“But we have got our concerns. Firstly, it’s not our
culture to debate our debts in public that Bulawayo City Council owes Zesa. In
as much as council may owe Zesa, we are owed millions of dollars by Zesa for
this power station so in our view, we don’t owe Zesa right now.
“Secondly, this gathering . . . I must emphasise, we came
under protest because we can’t come here and ask these people to be judges in our case with
ZPC.
“That’s why we went to the courts and we think that the
court is the final arbitrator in our dispute but since you have invited us to
this meeting we will talk,” said cllr Mguni.
He said BCC was not aware of when and where the first
stakeholder consultative meeting was held.
The Mayor said council owned the city and the residents
were the owners of public infrastructure such as the Bulawayo Power Station.
He said the local authority was also querying why the ZPC
had hired a consultant from outside the country to assess the structural
integrity of the cooling towers when council had competent engineers who could
perform the task.
“They (BCC engineers) have not been consulted to assess the
structural integrity of the towers so that they furnish us with a report on the
state of the towers before a decision is made. We can’t be told that there is a
consultant who was hired from somewhere who has recommended the demolition of
the towers.
“These towers have a historical significance and there is
no Bulawayo without those towers so if you destroy those towers, you would
rather destroy the city. Destroying the towers is akin to destroying the Great
Zimbabwe monuments,” said Cllr Mguni.
BCC, he said, told ZPC that if the power company wants to
build a power station, the local authority would avail land for the project.
ZPC which has secured US$110 million line of credit from
India EximBank to repower Bulawayo Power Station, has said it plans to demolish
the two cooling towers because the power station has outlived its lifespan of
not more than 30 years.
The station was built in 1947 with an installed capacity of
120 megawatts.
“If Zesa or ZPC is serious about consulting the City of
Bulawayo as stakeholders and owners of this property, they know where to find
us (at the council offices) so that we come up with a position.
“But the long and short of it honourable Minister (Chasi)
is that this matter is still before the courts and let us not be contemptuous
of the court processes,” said cllr Mguni.
Adv Chasi apologised on behalf of Zesa.
“I would like to apologise on behalf of Zesa. While we were
coming for this meeting, I asked them where the meeting was being held and
their response was ‘we are fighting with BCC and our relations are strained,”
he said.
Adv Chasi said the stakeholder meeting was by right
supposed to have been held at the City Council premises.
He also produced a voluminous Environmental Management Plan
on the repowering of Bulawayo Power Station, which the local authority said it
was not aware of.
When Adv Chasi was addressing the gathering, Cllr Mguni and
his entourage walked out.
Bura chairman Mr Winos Dube castigated Cllr Mguni and his
entourage for walking out of the meeting.
In his address, Adv Chasi said Government was committed to
improving power generation to drive the national economic agenda. of the
“For us to build a new power station it requires a lot of
resources in terms of funding. BCC and Zesa should work in unison. When BCC and Zesa are fighting, it’s
retrogressive,” said Minister Chasi.
He said dragging each other to court was a waste of
resources as a lot of money was being spent on legal fees.
“After this meeting we need to tour the cooling towers to
see the state of the infrastructure and as residents if you decide whether or
not we demolish the towers.”
During the tour of the towers it was observed that the two
cooling towers in question had developed cracks.
Earlier in his presentation at the meeting, ZPC general
manager for plant refurbishment Engineer Fannie Mavhondo explained why the two
cooling towers had to be demolished.
He said the other four cooling towers have to be
refurbished because the plant had outlived its lifespan.
Eng Mavhondo said repowering of the thermal power station,
which was producing 30 megawatts will improve generation to 90MW. Chronicle
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