Zimbabwe: AfDB funds rehabilitation project

The board of the African Development Bank has approved funding for the Emergency Power Infrastructure Rehabilitation Project (EPIRP) Phase II, in the form of a $17.52m grant from the bank’s Zimbabwe Multi-Donor Trust Fund. EPIRP aims to improve the availability and reliability of supply through the rehabilitation of generation, transmission and distribution (T&D) facilities, focusing on seven areas of Zimbabwe – Kwekwe, Gweru, Bulawayo, Masvingo, Mutare, Harare and Hwange, which have a combined population of 5m people. Phase I of the EPIRP was designed to improve the provision of electricity in an environmentally sound manner, through the rehabilitation of the ash-handling plant at the Hwange coal-fired power station and of the country’s T&D facilities.