[miningmx.com] – SOUTH Africa’s Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) would act decisively in the event of non-performance by Hitachi which is threatening to delay commissioning of the 4,800WM Medupi power station.
Citing DPE spokesperson Mayihlome Tswete, BDLive reported today that Hitachi had given assurances to government that defective welds on boilers in the R90bn to R100bn Medupi installation would not interrupt the December commissioning deadline.
Defective welds accounted for only 1% of all welds on boilers, said BDLive citing Hitachi spokesperson Pamela Radebe. But Tshwete said minister for public enterprises, Malusi Gigaba would “act decisively”.
“There are quality issues that have been identified,” BDLive quoted Tshwete to have said.
“They (Hitachi) have assured us it will have no effect on schedule. We continue to follow all our contractual remedies if there is nonperformance.
“We are reassessing our schedule as a result of labour issues as well as this issue and all other challenges that exist in a project of this nature. We will report publicly once we have a firm way forward,” he said.
This is not the first time there have been doubts about the ability of Hitachi to deliver Medupi’s boilers on time. Coupled with contractor-related labour protests at Medupi in February, there are real doubts as to whether Eskom can meet its deadline.
The fear, said BDLive, is that South Africa could face renewed rolling blackouts, a development that would hinder economic growth.
In 2008, South Africa’s mining sector was virtually closed for a week owing to a shortage of available electricity. There was only a 2% margin between demand and supply of electricity in South Africa currently.
