DAILY TRUST
Friday, January 6, 20 12
25
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Business/l nternational
Kenya wind power project to start by April CONSTRUcnON of a 310 megawatt (MW) wind
power project in Krnya is cxp芦1ed 10 start In April after its finanders complete due diligence 00 the project, a senior company official said yesterday. M05l of KenyU power is generated by hydroelectric plants, wh.icharepronet o l~ vagarie:soffrcqumtdroughts. which CUt watu levd.s in dams, lead to power outages and (orce easl Afric:aS biggest economy to my on die:sdpowemf gc:nnotOB. Work on the 617m euro Lake Turkana \VInd Poo."'C'I (LTIVP) project was initially expected 10 ha\~ started by
""momh. Carlo Van Wageningen, chairman of LIWP, said its financ~ were going through the due diligence process. which was expe:ted to culminate in finalising the
fundin&
Zambia maize crop off to poor start ERRATIC rainfall has delayed planting ofZarnbias staple maize crop that ftcds the impovnishcd southern African nalion. raising the possibility of
a poor harvest after several bumper seasons, the agriculture minister said yesterday.
But he saki. th! counU'}' should ha~ adequate reserves to see it through any rough patch. -ne beginnuig has not been good. Although it's too early to tell how things will wuold, we are veryconcerned The rainfall pallOll has been very patch)-:- Agriculluc Minister Enunanuel o.Ulda Iold Rallen. The planting!easoT1 in Zambia usually begins \\'ith the rains wtuch her.tld the start of the southem hemisphere 'iUflUnet season in October or No\-tmber. ~As
late as December 30 some people had nol
Mozambique (PI slows to 6.14% MOZAMBlQU1~'S consumer Inllation slowed to 6.14 percent year路cmp::ar In Decembrr from 8.6 percent in November, the National lrum"te of Statis tics s:tid )'e5lerday. The age ncy 5-lid In a statemenl Ihal Innalion (lvera@ed 11 .17 percent in 2011 , braking frum
an a\'erage o f J7A r e rc~t In 20 10, (R,-ule".)
planted but in Zambia maize should normally be
knee-high althattimt. Wesawalotof peoplephnting In December when they should be wceding.Chendasaid Zambia has been reaping bumper yields, improving food security and Ufting economic growth in a country where much of the popula-
tion is comprised of rural peasants. Higher food output has been attributcd to slate subsidies 10 farmers in the fann offertlllzer and sttd but subsistox.e farming in Zambia, Ukt in much or Africa, rdicsheavily on rain in the absmcr: orirTigation infrastructure. Chenda, a minister in tU gm~enl of popuUst President l\.1khad Sata who was SYo'qJt to power late last year, said thesuh!idies had been increased this growingseason.
"We have incJclsed the number or rarmen recdvingsubsidlsed inputs under the ~ Input support progrnmme ioaboul l million rromabout 800,000 last )ur;'" he said ''In terms of food SC'CUrity wr: ~ very safe because~ha\~iocreasedOUfmaiureservesfrom
300,000 lonnes 10 600,000 tonnes," he added. Zambiis maize production in the 2010/2011 season was projected to rise to over 3 million tOMes rrom the 2.8 million lonnes produced in the 2009120 I0 season,a aop forecast showed last year. Farmm ha\~ rrported that some of the maize in regional breadbaskd South AfriGi hasal50 been planted late 001 growing conditions have generally been faVOUf1lble, though the country is Importing yellow ma.i.u: as il seems 10 have overcommitted 10 uport markers.. (Reulers)
"We don't apectanyrurtherddays. We are Iookingat financial dose at the end of Match, beginning of April and therefore groundbreaking as soon as possible after that." Van Wageningen Iold Rruters by phone.. TheLTIVPpowerproject is upccIed to start production after 20 13. It involves building a wind farm within Loiyangalani. a remote region In the northW\5t part of the country and ncar the Lake Thrbna basin. Van Wagerungcn said the World Bank is one of the pro)芦ts guannton on behalf or the Kenyan government and that the l>ank required the projecl to undergo an environmental impact assessmenl srudy. He said the study was complete and was posted on the World Bank Web site from NovmIoo 15 fora Sill!' utory 120 days for the public to comment and would thereafter be takm before the banJO board forappl'O\'3l. LTWP is ~ subsidiary or KP&p, a Dutch f1CIJl which sets up wind power projects. The ~nyan \~nrure will be the biggest In the country. consisting of 365 wind rurbines, each "'i!h a capacity of 850kiIowiIns. LTWPhasanagrmnent
with Derunark5 Vestas \V'md Systems 10 supply 365 Vestas V52turb!ne:s.. LTWP will transmit ilS powr:r 10 the national grid through~428 km (266mUe) o....erhead Jineit ",ill build for the government and offioad the eleclricity to the stale路 run Krnya PowerCompany, The country hopes to add 2,000 MW of emirOnmentaIly friendly energy sources br ;!OIl (Rrllt<'T"S)