(Bloomberg) -- RioZim Ltd. has asked Zimbabwe's electricity regulator to allow it to produce more power from a $2.1 billion plant it plans to build in the country that faces frequent blackouts.
The coal-mining company wants a 30-year license to operate the facility it's planning in the nation's northwest and wants to generate as much as 2,800 megawatts from 2,400 before, it said in a regulatory filing Friday to the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority in the capital, Harare.
“Within two years of entering into an investment agreement, at least 30 percent of the project must have been completed,” it said. The construction will be completed within seven years, it said.
Zimbabwe rations power daily, producing and importing about 1,300 megawatts against demand of about 2,200 megawatts. Rio Tinto and RioZim, equal partners in the Sengwa plant, are working on raising funds through equity and debt for the facility, RioZim Chief Executive Officer Noah Matimba said in May last year. Of the $2.1 billion needed, $50 million will be for the coal mine that will supply the station.
To contact the reporter on this story: Godfrey Marawanyika in Harare at gmarawanyika@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net, Ana Monteiro, Alastair Reed
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