President Emmerson Mnangagwa said that General Electric Co. and Power Construction Corp. of China have been chosen to build the US$4 billion Batoka Gorge hydropower project on the Zambezi River.
The project will be done jointly by Zimbabwe and Zambia and upon completion is expected to generate 2 400 megawatts.
Speaking in Mozambique at the US-Africa Summit recently, President Mnangagwa said:
Zambia and Zimbabwe have agreed on this project. We have all agreed that we give it to GE — China Power and GE together.
It’s critical that we move fast on that front because it’s necessary that as we industrialize that we need electricity.
The Batoka Gorge Hydropower Plant will be built upstream of Lake Kariba whose water level has receded alarmingly reducing electricity generation fro the two countries leading to crippling power cuts.