$3.5 BILLION CHINESE INVESTMENT IS TESTAMENT OF ZAMBIA’S ENHANCED RELATIONS WITH CHINA – STATE HOUSE
State House Chief Commumications Specialist Clayson Hamasaka states:
Zesco has signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Integrated Clean Energy Power Company Ltd (CiEG) to produce 2,400 Megawatts of renewable energy estimated at US$3.5 billion.
CiEG is an investment development and Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) of international projects arm for China Huadian Corporation, China Huadian Corporation is a global energy company and Chinese state-owned enterprise, the 3rd largest electricity power producer in the world and is listed on Fortune 500.
The pledged US $3.5 billion investment will be rolled out in phases of 600-800MW over a 3-year period in 4 provinces beginning this year with 300mw in Southern Province and 300mw in Central Province.
This sizable foreign direct investment (FDI) into Zambia from China is a testament of the reset and enhanced relations between the two countries for mutual benefit, which dates back to the two founding fathers; Chairman Mao and Dr. Kenneth Kaunda.
The pledged investment comes at the back of the earlier investment of US$2.5 billion in 2,000mw of energy by Masdar from the United Arab Emirates.
This signifies the New Dawn’s Government’s strong resolve to achieve energy sufficiency for the domestic economy and energy surplus to enable increased exports as part of promoting export diversification and enhanced foreign currency earnings.