DOCUMENT STALLS E120BN INVESTMENT

MBABANE – The signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the governments of Swaziland and South Africa is all that now stands in the way of a project that will bring about 30 000 jobs.

The much-awaited project is the construction of a 500 Mega Watts thermal plant at Mpaka in the Lubombo region.
About 90 per cent of the power will be exported while the 10 per cent will be supplied to the national grid.

CANHAM Mining International, which has promised to inject about E120 billion into the country’s economy through construction of the thermal plant, has been pushing for the project since 2004.
Chairman of CANHAM Mining International, Phillip Canham, has informed the Times SUNDAY that they now have all the necessary papers, including a licence and a lease agreement for the land at Mpaka, save for the MoU.
He said the land at Mpaka has been leased from His Majesty the King because it is his farm and the attorney general has approved it.

“What we are waiting for now is an MoU between South Africa and Swaziland that will allow us to export electricity from Swaziland to South Africa,” Canham said.
He dismissed reports that CANHAM International was asking the Swaziland government to negotiate with South Africa on their behalf as he said this was entirely their responsibility.
He likened the process to applying for a visa to enter the United States of America, which he said you have to apply for at the USA embassy but the embassy will not then pay for the booking of flights, accommodation and meals as you have to do that yourself.

“That is exactly the same here. The political MoU is the visa we need for us to export electricity to South Africa. Everything else is our responsibility. We negotiate with South Africa. We do not need Swaziland to negotiate anything for us and that is important. We just need the visa. We negotiate the quantity (of electricity) we are going to sell and the price we are going to sell for, that is our obligation,” Canham explained.
For the thermal plant, he said CANHAM International was looking at sourcing coal from both South Africa and Swaziland, with each country supplying them with 10 million tonnes per month.
He said if Swaziland, however, failed to meet its quota, they already have a standing MoU with South African company Coal Power Africa to supply them with the 20 million tonnes a month.
Canham also disclosed that they had exchanged letters with Transnet to use the under-construction South Africa-Swaziland railway link for the importation of the coal.

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