Sengwa coal plant project, a blemish on climate justice in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe’s Rio Energy Ltd’s plans to construct a US$ 3 Billion thermal power plant in Sengwa, Gokwe District, with financial assistance from China Gezhouba Group Corporation are at an advanced stage.
Rio- Energy Ltd, a subsidiary of the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) listed RioZim recently confirmed the commencement of the Sengwa Coal Plant construction.
The power plant at Sengwa will be constructed in four phases of about 700 megawatts each, bringing total capacity of the thermal plant to 2,800 megawatts.
The activities that have already been completed to pave way for the construction of thermal plan include; a full design and feasibility of the power station as well as the design of power evacuation lines, a coal mining plan and fuel coal delivery to the station.
The thermal power plant is expected to produce electricity for both local consumption and exportation.
This thermal power project has been on the cards since the 1990s but could not take off due to lack of funding. Part of the project entails construction of a 250-kilometer pipeline that will transport water from the Zambezi River to the Sengwa plant, and construction of a 420 kilovolt-ampere power line, both which will be developed by Power China, a renowned international energy company.
The plant will be fired by coal from Rio Zim’s coal fields in Sengwa with proven ore reserves in excess of 525 million tonnes, enough to “support a 10,000-megawatt plant at Sengwa”, according to Caleb Dengu, chairman of Rio Energy. RioZim, through Rio Energy Ltd owns coal mining claims in Sengwa.
There is evidence that the commencement of the Sengwa power plant is now imminent, with precise indications that construction will start this year.
The conclusion of this coal plant investment deal is a negative step by the Government of Zimbabwe of increasing energy supply in the country through a globally condemned fossil fuel technology.
There is no doubt that addressing energy deficits in the country remains at the centre of the country’s economic recovery, social and economic development and transformation.
Notwithstanding the energy needs of the country, the proposed project comes with environmental and social cost costs which cannot go unchallenged.
Nothing new here. Zimbabwe with it’s weak and sellout President will sell most of Zimbabwe to its Chinese masters for a few dollars. Soon Zim will be like most of China provinces with coal powered plants with the worst toxic air in Asia. All because Zim has a lazy corrupt government that will sell it people into Chinese slavery of blacks for a dollars. ED is a demon, and all Chinese they let in are nothing more than criminal financed by CCP to loot weak African countries. ED should just go straight to hell. Fucking coward scumbag. Just as RG has said many times in the past. If you see most of what has kept Zimbabwe backward for decades you can find ED with his filthy hands on it. Now the hands of his filthy family carry on.