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dam-l Cahora Bassa power struggle/LS


>Eskom rejects
>Cahora Bassa power
>
>OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 12 January 10.40am.
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>-- THE landmark deal through which Eskom is buying power from
>Mozambique's Cahora Bassa hydroelectric power station is hanging in
>the balance after Eskom's council opposed the import price of power.
>The compromise agreement between Eskom and Hidroelectrica de Cahora
>Bassa in Mozambique was struck in July after 16 years of wrangling
>over the import price of the power. Eskom consistently maintained that
>it would not pay more than 2c per kilowatt hour to finance the
>project's R3,2-billion debt. The final deal is thought to have been
>struck at around 3c per kilowatt hour, a price Eskom's council has
>apparently rejected as too high, since it costs only 2,5c to produce
>electricity locally. Eskom's media relations officer Peter Adams on
>Monday confirmed that Eskom has stopped buying power from Mozambique.
>He said that the council met in August and took a decision on the
>matter. The council's decision, he said, will now be evaluated by
>Public Enterprises Minister Stella Sigcau and Minerals and Energy
>Minister Penuell Maduna on September 28. Portuguese ambassador to
>South Africa Manuel Pereira on Monday said the embassy has submitted
>its concerns to the South African government on Eskom's position. "It
>will be a pity if Eskom questions the agreement reached in July
>because all parties had compromised seriously to reach it," he said.
>Portugal is financing Cahora Bassa's debt.
>

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      Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
        and Editor, World Rivers Review
           International Rivers Network
              1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
                  Tel. (510) 848 1155   Fax (510) 848 1008
                        http://www.irn.org
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