South Africa’s sixth blueprint in 25 years to boost economic growth and job creation may succeed where the previous ones have failed – by being less ambitious.
Browsing: Eskom
Finance minister Tito Mboweni’s plan to pull the economy out of its longest downward cycle since 1945 may have put him on a collision course with cabinet colleagues, fellow ruling-party members and labour unions.
Eskom’s Medupi Unit 1 was synchronised to the grid on Tuesday evening, ahead of schedule. Unit 1 is the last unit to be synchronised to the grid at the Lephalale-based plant.
National treasury has outlined its vision to bolster economic growth and tackle a 29% unemployment rate, proposing a range of reforms including cutting red tape for businesses and easing visa rules to boost tourism.
Government could decide that Eskom must sell some of its coal-fired power stations as part of the restructuring of the power utility, national treasury said.
Eskom, struggling with more than R440-billion in debt, has said it will take as long as three to five years to comply with the government’s plan to split the company into three separate units.
An acceleration in economic growth in South Africa could trigger power cuts, with state utility Eskom’s fragile generation system unable to respond to increased demand for electricity.
Labour unions that oppose the government’s plans to split Eskom into three units will ultimately have to support the reforms, according to mineral resources & energy minister Gwede Mantashe.
The threat of an International Monetary Fund bailout, unthinkable a few years ago, may force South Africa’s government to push through the reforms it needs to rescue the economy.
The area around coal-fired plants owned by Eskom ranks as the world’s second largest hotspot of sulphur dioxide emissions, according to Greenpeace.