By Cathy Maulidi:
The Electricity Generation Company (Egenco) is owing international equipment suppliers about K25 billion, The Daily Times has leant.
The information we have indicates that the power generator is owing suppliers who provide the nation with spare parts for electricity generation machines and is struggling to repay the debt.
The debt is supposed to be paid in United States dollars and, with the foreign currency crunch the country is experiencing, the company is unable to the settle it.
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Egenco spokesperson Moses Gwaza said in an interview Wednesday that these are long outstanding payments which Egenco has failed to settle due to forex shortage and has since accumulated interests.
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“Further delays to settle our dues with our international equipment suppliers may attract interests as per contractual agreements,” Gwaza said.
He added that the country is sitting on a time bomb, as it cannot get further machine spares due to the debt, a development that threatens the country’s electricity generation.
“We are sitting on a time bomb,” Gwaza said. “Should something happen to the machines, and if the spares are not available in the country, we will have difficulties to repair them”.
“We normally have spare parts we keep in stock to ensure smooth running of the machines. These are various spares that we replace on machines from time to time. We need to have these spares readily available in stock so that whenever there is a need to stop machines and do maintenance, we should not have challenges,” Gwaza added.
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The Daily Times understands that Egenco used the money which was meant for repayment of the debt to fix Kapichira Power Station.
“We used money that was supposed to be paid to equipment suppliers. The money had already been committed to our foreign suppliers, only that they were idle in the banks because there was no forex to effect the payments.
“We were, therefore, forced to withdraw those resources so that we could fix Kapichira as the country was in a power crisis,” he said.
Egenco pegged the cost of Kapichira Hydro power plant restoration at K11 billion and asked the government for K6.5 billion for the restoration of the power plant which lost 129.6 megawatts after cyclone Ana damaged Kapichira in 2022.
Government committed to assist Egenco with the restoration but never did, forcing Egenco to use the money meant for its unpaid invoices to restore Kapichira.
Chairperson for the Natural Resources Committee of Parliament Werani Chilenga has described the situation as worrisome, saying the government should come in to rescue Egenco.
“We are not supposed to be in this type of predicament. Ministry of Finance should fulfil its commitment and give Egenco K6.5 billion it promised on the restoration of Kapichira power plant so that Egenco can remit the funds to the suppliers,” he said.
Last month, an official from the Ministry of Finance, Daisi Kachingwe Phiri, promised that the government would fulfil the commitment but did not disclose when.
