$700m Kariba tender axed

Zimbabwe’s State Procurement Board had cancelled a $700 million (R5.8 billion) tender for a 300 megawatt expansion of the Kariba South power plant because of documentation irregularities, Energy Minister Elton Mangoma said yesterday. The board cited a faulty site-visit certificate and unclear bid bonds for withdrawing the offer, for which China’s SinoHydro was the sole bidder. Mangoma said the tender had been axed for what he deemed “two flimsy reasons”. The board “asked us to re-tender the whole project, but fellows need to be reasonable”. – Bloomberg