Auxilia Katongomara Chronicle Reporter
The Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) has been granted the greenlight to use water from Khami Dam for its boilers at the Bulawayo Power Station in a deal that will see the utility rehabilitating the dam’s treatment plant.
The company had sought permission from the Bulawayo City Council to use water from the dam which was decommissioned in 1988 due to high levels of pollution as part of the rehabilitation of the power station after securing an $87 million loan from India for the power project.

According to the latest council report, the Acting Director of Engineering Services, Wisdom Siziba, recommended that ZPC be granted permission to use the water, but the dam would remain under BCC.
The municipality then resolved to allow the company to use the water.

It was agreed that a water supply agreement beneficial to both parties be drafted and signed.
Under the proposal, ZPC would rehabilitate Khami Water Treatment Plant and install a new pipeline of adequate capacity from Khami Dam to Bulawayo Power Station. “The infrastructure remains under the ownership of BCC and the council should have full authority over the treated water and reserves the right to supply any excess water to other applicants,” reads part of the report.

In a letter to council, ZPC managing director engineer, Noah Gwariro, said the company was working to increase electricity generated at Bulawayo Power Station from 30MW to 90MW.

“The project entails replacing the existing ten (10) chain grate boilers by two new Circulation Fluidised Bed Combustion (CFBC) boiler units (2x45MW). These new boilers will require eleven million litres of water every day in order to achieve the required electricity generation capacity,” wrote Gwariro.

“Under the proposal, ZPC rehabilitates the Khami Water Treatment Plant and installs a new pipeline of adequate capacity from Khami Dam to Bulawayo Power Station. ZPC would then recover the cost of these works through a structured cost recovery system to be agreed upon by both parties.”

Eng Gwario said the actual cost of the Khami water treatment plant and the installation of the pipeline would be known once tenders are finalised.

He said the Indian loan funding would only be accessed once ZPC had demonstrated that it had secured agreements for all key inputs, water included.

“The request for a Water Supply Agreement is therefore urgent,” said Eng Gwariro.

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