Zambia - Last week a Chinese government-owned company was in the country for talks with State House and NamPower [government-owned power utility] on assistance with the construction of a power line from Zambia.

The 400 megawatts of electricity Namibia is planning to import via the Caprivi line from Zambia by 2009 represents more than double the amount of power the country is generating itself at the moment. With the completion of projects such as the Kudu Gas Field even further on the horizon, this line may bring in cheaper electricity than from South Africa to meet the ever-increasing demand. The chief technical adviser of NamPower, Rainer Jagau, confirmed that a delegation of the Chinese national corporation for the construction and import and export of agricultural machinery [CAMC] had held talks with the national power utility. However, he stressed that, as was the case with other offers from various places, NamPower would carefully compare the proposals with conditions elsewhere on the open market. Ms Liu Jianling, managing director of the department for business development of the Chinese company CAMS, paid a courtesy call on State House together with the economic adviser of the Chinese Embassy last week. The next day they were scheduled to meet the new chief executive officer of NamPower. Before the talks began behind closed doors, one of Pohamba's officials described the project to be discussed as a "very urgent project." According to the Chinese they are in a great hurry to finance a contract after the signing of a general cooperation agreement with the Namibian Government during the State visit of the president to China in December last year. According to Mr Jagau it is however not a settled thing that CAMC would be a partner in the Caprivi project. The link of northern Namibia over Sesheke and Livingstone to the power network of the Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation [Zesco] will according to reports cost about 3 billion Namibian dollars. The ability to supplement Namibia's power demands on a large scale from this quarter depends amongst others on upgrading in Zambia, which has been topping the agenda of Zesco for the past years. In the inner rooms of State House it is speculated that the Inga Project, which eventually will use the same infrastructure, is probably the only long term solution to the region's electricity predicament. This project will according to plans assist the whole of Southern Africa with power from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The annual turnover of CAMS, established in 1982, amounts according to their website to about 200m US dollars, which is 1.3bn Namibian dollars. Between 40 and 60 per cent of this money is obtained from overseas contracts. At the end of May the Chinese government-owned company, according to the Mozambican Information Agency, was on the agenda of a high-level business conference in Maputo. The same report on allAfrica.com says Mozambique signed a cooperation agreement in April according to which the Exim Bank of China would lend 2.3bn US dollars (nearly 15bn Namibian dollars) for work on the Mepandua N'kua and Bue Maria dams. According to Mr Jagau the infrastructure for the Caprivi line should be completed by 2009. He therefore stressed that NamPower's strategy for the next years, like in South Africa and Zambia, would be to economize.

Source: Republikein, Windhoek, in Afrikaans 15 Jun 06 p 4 BBC Mon AF1 AFEausaf 160606/dg BBC Monitoring. Copyright BBC.

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