Close down Morupule B -BCP 

 The plant has been going through operational defects for many years with that plunging the country security of power supply in turmoil, a development that forces BPC to find alternative power suppliers. 

Taolo, MP for Bobirwa constituency on Wednesday grilled Kenewendo over the defunct performance of Morupule B power station located in Palapye which is owned by Botswana Power Corporation (BPC). 

Lucas had asked Kenewendo to give update on the state of Morupule Power Plant, whether or not is operating optimally and what it will take for it to cease bleeding government coffers 

Kenewendo while responding said the government is content that the power station would operate at maximum scale buttressing that the cost of remedial work is taken care by a contractor not government. 

She said government continues to asses the situation of the plant and it is its desire to see the plant operating optimally and meet the demand of national electricity supply. 

“We are not in the process to determine if the plant is defunct state asset or not. BPC is responsible for taking care of plant maintenance and operating the plant. Remedial works from time to time are the responsibility of engineering contractor. Government don’t bear costs of remedial works,” she added. Lucas said the plant is not giving Batswana and taxpayers value for their money because it hasn’t been operating optimally, adding that failure to operate at full capacity force BPC to spend more in importing electricity. 

According to him, the plant is bleeding government coffers and therefore it must be considered a defunct government asset. 

“We are wasting lot of money in this plant. We are not going to get any worth for our money 

Divestment 

In the past, the Auditor General (AG) report noted the auditors noted in 2016 that, government took a decision in principle to sell Morupule B power plant after the liability period. The AG report said 24 months liability period which was scheduled to end in June 2016 was extended for the contractor to make good on the outstanding defects, some of which were impacting on the reliability or availability of the power plant. 

It was noted at the time that government’s intention was to give priority to Chinese state-owned entity, China National Electric Equipment Corporation (“CNEEC”) in the divestment process. 

CNEEC, identified as the original build contractor and thus was seen as best placed to mitigate the risk which may arise as a result of the complexity and other issues attached to the project. 

In evaluating the management approach, the auditors indicated that decision to determine Morupule B Power Station as a Cash Generating Unit (CGU) was not appropriate because it could not generate cash flows on its own without the involvement of transmission and distribution network