Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. THE government has stressed the need for innovative strategies to harness the waters of the Zambezi River to mitigate the risks of water shortages.
Addressing journalists at a meeting between Zimbabwe and Zambia, Energy and Power Development minister July Moyo said there was a need to use it in climate-proofing to avoid a shortage of water.
“There must be alternatives to big reservoirs, but still achieving our need to have power, which is ideal,” he said.
Moyo said the two countries were discussing the issue of captive power so that the private sector, such as mining and value addition, are encouraged to create their own power sources as long as they get licences from local authorities.
“As long as they are discussing with our utilities for twinning agreements, in some cases, power purchase agreements, they will do their captive power, and a lot of them may access power.
“In the mining sector, our countries are pushing for value addition. Value addition means increased usage of electricity and other forms of energy, including fossil fuels, which are a necessity,” he said.
Moyo said Zimbabwe signed a memorandum of understanding on co-operation in facilitating private sector development in the implementation of the Zimbabwe-Zambia pipeline for fuel and gas.
“This needs us to put our heads together and operationalise it as our governments expect that this relationship will increase our co-operation in the field of fossil fuels and gas.
“In the case of Zimbabwe, it is clear that our Muzarabani gas fuels are now well confirmed as resources that need to be utilised,” Moyo said.
Meanwhile, Zambian energy minister Makozo Chikote said the two countries understood the power deficit they were facing arising from climate change.
“By 2030, we need to make sure that there is universal access to electricity by putting measures in place, expediting the implementation of many projects so that our people will be able to access this electricity. That is how we can discourage even deforestation,” he said.
Chikote said energy remained a key driver of economic development.
“We are carrying a heavy mandate that will see our two countries grow their economies. We cannot talk about increasing production in the mines if we do not have sufficient power. We will no longer depend on rain-fed agriculture; we have to use irrigation,” he said.
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