Lusaka - In 2010 South Africa's neighbours will have an emergency supply of thousands of megawatts of electricity available to ensure that the lights for the Soccer World Cup keep burning.
Zambia, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are among the 12 countries that will sign a undertaking to support an emergency plan for the tournament, said Lawrence Musaba of the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) on Tuesday.
SAPP members will make 2 000MW to 3 000MW of "emergency power" available during the World Cup.
The Koeberg power station generates about 1 800MW.
The only SAPP members that currently have the capacity to export electricity are Zambia, Mozambique and the DRC. Botswana, Swaziland and Namibia all import power from, inter alia, South Africa.
On Tuesday the World Bank announced a new investment of $570m (about R5bn) into the SAPP after years of insufficient investment in the region.
This follows promises on Monday for some $1.3bn (R12bn) for maintenance and renovation of infrastructure in eight countries along the corridor stretching from South Africa in the south to Kenya on the horn of Africa.
According to Musaba, more than $100bn (about R900bn) is required out to 2025 to increase power-generation capacities in the 12 member states to 100 000MW - apart from the investments that Eskom has already announced in South Africa.
Eskom generates about 36 000MW of the 46 500MW available in the region this year.
- Sake24.com
For more business news in Afrikaans, go to Sake24.com.