India’s Exim Bank has extended an $87 million line of credit to Zimbabwe to finance the upgrade of its Bulawayo Thermal Power Station.
Currently Zimbabwe is only generating half of its peak demand of 2 200MW and is hard pressed for lasting solutions to the power crisis which has seen households and industry endure outages of up to 18 hours a day.
The rehabilitation of the Bulawayo power stations is expected to add 70MW to the national grid from the current 30 MW.
“The facility was a result of accelerated re-engagement with the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries and pursuant of the Zimbabwe’s look East policy,” said Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa, who is in India for the India-Africa Forum.
Zimbabwe would seek more concessional facilities to help resuscitate Zimbabwe’s ailing economy from the bank, he added.
The loan has a repayment period of 10 years at an interest rate of two percent per annum.
In the past, the bank has provided Zimbabwe with funds amounting to $91.5 million, including $28.6 million to upgrade Deka Pumping Station which supports cooling of Hwange Power Station.-The Source
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