GOVERNMENT has paid Eskom of South Africa US$40 million for the importation of 300 megawatts to cushion the power deficit the country is facing, Chief Government Spokesperson Dora Siliya has said. Ms Siliya says US$10 million was paid last week while US$30 million was paid on Wednesday this week. “We have made payments to Eskom for power importation for two months because we know that within two months, it will be raining and we will resume power generation in full,” she said. Ms Siliya, who is Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services, said this yesterday when she featured on Hot FM’s Hot Seat live programme.

She said Government decided not to pass on the cost of importing power to consumers because it heard the concerns of the citizens. “After further reflection and hearing people’s concerns, Government decided to look at the available resources to pay for power imports,” the minister said. She could, however, not state when the importation of electricity is likely to start because paperwork is still being done.

During a press briefing on Wednesday last week, Minister of Energy Matthew Nkhuwa said the importation of power would start within two weeks. Mr Nkhuwa said once the importation starts, the hours of power outage will be reduced from the current 15 to six. He said what delayed the process of signing the contract with Eskom was that the company wanted to sign a deal for six months when Government only wanted a contract for three months. Zambia has a power deficit of about 700 megawatts which has resulted in 15 hours of load-shedding per day.

And Ms Siliya said Government is implementing a number of energy projects so that the country can have sufficient power to address the problem of outages in future. On the delay by Government to pay pensioners and local suppliers of goods and services, Ms Siliya said Government is making every effort to settle the debt. “It’s not Government’s interest to delay paying those we owe money.

Even the pensioners, Government does not take pleasure in seeing them camping at Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Justice,” she said. Ms Siliya said Government is spending a lot of money on dismantling arrears because it does not want to leave the burden on future generations. And the minister said the levels of corruption have reduced in the country as highlighted by the latest Auditor General’s report.