In South Africa, the problems of the Eskom, the national electricity company, are numerous and multifaceted. Parliament has just revealed a case of mismanagement on the Kusile project, whose power plant, which is the most recent in the country, is regularly down for technical reasons. By AgenceEcofin
In South Africa, the Eskom, the national electricity company, has once again been singled out for its less than optimal management of its resources. This time, MEPs are questioning the cost of the Kusile plant workers’ housing project. The construction cost 840 million rands ($56.5 million) instead of the 160 million rands initially planned.
This five-fold increase in the initial budget for this part of the project is, according to the Legislative Committee on Energy, “an unnecessary and fruitless expenditure”. After it started, the project was cancelled and remained unfinished. At the same time, the committee denounces, the Eskom reported that it had spent billions of rand in accommodation and transportation of employees of the site.
The failure of this project is, according to the Parliament, one of the proofs of the mismanagement of the Eskom and one of the causes of its inability to provide energy to the populations while needing a bailout of the State. Parliament is of the opinion that the company has demonstrated a flagrant breach of the taxpayer’s rights and that an investigation must be conducted so that action can be taken against those responsible.
As in support of these claims, Eskom has just announced new offloads due to its inability to produce enough electricity to meet demand.Heavy rains have slowed down the activity of coal mines, which supply 90% of the country’s power plants.
Source : AgenceEcofin / By Gwladys Johnson Akinocho
