Africa’s second largest copper hotspot after DRC, Zambia has taken energy diversification to another level. Zambia has for decades depended on hydro for power generation until 2015-2016 energy poverty years that awakened the nation to power diversification to other sources such as solar and geothermal.

A very unique source of energy generation plant is now being considered in Muchinga Province of the country. In a press release from the Ministry of National Planning, Honorable Lucky Mulusa revealed that district, the state has embarked on a program to diversify the energy sector further by establishing a 400 MegaWatt gas fired and powered plant in Chinsali district the capital of the province at a cost of $900million.

Minister of Development Planning Lucky Mulusa said the establishment of the plant is one of the measures Government has put in place to increase the country’s power generation capacity.

The 400 MegaWatts is projected to propel generation capacity, hence cushioning any deficits the nation may face. The project, he said, will be executed under the Tanzania-Zambia Mafuta (TAZAMA) Pipeline Limited. The gas to power the plant will be sourced from Zambia’s Rift Valley neighbor Tanzania and part of it will come from the Mozambique gas project.

The power generation plant will be located in Chinsali will be supplied with gas from the port of Dar es Salaam via a 36-inch pipeline.The pipeline will be laid alongside the crude oil pipeline in the existing TAZAMA wayleave, with an estimated length of 1,100 km. The plant will have expansion capacity from 400 megawatts to 1,200 megawatts.

The Ministry is yet to advise the mode of capital raising for the project and who will construct the plant.

Zambia Business Times

The 7th National Development Plan (7NDP) under the theme: ‘Accelerating development efforts towards Vision 2030 without leaving anyone behind’, has been launched today at the Mulungushi international Conference Centre in Lusaka.

Speaking during the launch PRESIDENT EDGAR LUNGU says he is concerned with the huge disparity between the rich and poor in Zambia. President LUNGU said despite the poverty decline between 2006 and 2015 there was need for government to do more as rural poverty remains really high at over 70 percent.

The formulation of the 7NDP has been driven by its mother ministry; The Ministry of National Development Planning with wide and extensive consultation from line ministries.

Other involved were Provinces and Districts, Research Institutions, Think Tanks, Civil Society organizations, United Nations agencies and many Cooperating Partners.

The 7NDP which will cover the period 2017 to 2021 is in 2 parts comprising of Volume I and Volume II. Volume I outlines the aspirations of the development agenda for the next 5 years while Volume II is the clear implementation plan of the 7NDP.

The 7NDP has been classified into 5 Pillars namely:

(I) Economic Diversification and Job Creation

(II) Poverty and Vulnerability Reduction

(III) Reducing Development Inequalities

(IV) Enhancing Human Development

(V) Creating a Conducive Governance Environment for a Diversified and Inclusive Economy

The plan gives a direction of Zambia’s broad parameter of government development agenda in the next four years.

The 7NDP seeks to move away from the sectoral approach to the integrated approach; it also seeks to abandon the silo approach that takes away policy harmonization and policy consistency.

And the Head of State has urged Zambians from all sectors of life to support the implementation of the national development plan. This plan will become the broad framework from which annual fiscal budgets and the corresponding monetary policy decisions will be anchored.

Zambia Business Times

NAIROBI – Tanzania’s presidency said Barrick Gold Corp is willing to reimburse money that’s owed to the government, after President John Magufuli accused subsidiary Acacia Mining of failing to pay billions of dollars of taxes. Acacia surged as much as 11%.

Barrick executive chairperson John Thornton met Magufuli for talks in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, on Wednesday, the presidency said in an emailed statement. Barrick confirmed the meeting but not the details of what, if anything, had been agreed.

“Thornton said his company is ready to hold talks with Tanzania that will consider the interests of both sides and is ready to pay all the money it’s expected to pay Tanzania,” Magufuli’s office said. The government welcomes such talks and will establish a panel of experts to negotiate how the company will pay the money and how it will conduct future operations in the country, according to the statement.

The meeting took place two days after the Tanzanian leader accused Acacia of operating illegally and demanded it remit unpaid taxes. The accusation followed an audit of the country’s mineral exports over the past 19 years that found mining companies failed to remit taxes of as much as 108.5 trillion shillings ($48.5 billion) since 1998.

The two sides agreed to discussions to reach a “mutually acceptable solution,” Acacia said in an emailed statement, adding that the company will provide a further update during a scheduled conference call on Thursday. Acacia spokesperson Giles Blackham declined to provide further details.

Toronto-based Barrick, which owns 64% of Acacia, also agreed on Wednesday to help Tanzania build a smelter, according to the presidency’s statement, which didn’t provide further details.

Acacia shares traded 10% higher at 300.80 pence by 2:06 p.m. in London.

“The meeting was constructive and open, with the parties agreeing to enter into negotiations to seek a resolution that is in the best interests of all stakeholders, including Tanzania, Barrick, and Acacia,” Barrick said in a statement Wednesday.

Mining Weekly