AfrElec: Zimbabwe, Zambia sovereign defaults push up cost of $4.5bn Batoka Gorge project

Sovereign debt defaults by Zambia and Zimbabwe have escalated the cost of a planned hydroelectric power plant that the southern African neighbours will co-own.

They engaged US giant, General Electric and Power Construction Corporation of China Ltd in 2019 to build the 2,400-MW project on a site along the Zambezi River, which forms part of their border.

The Batoka Gorge project’s initial cost was $4.5bn, but this has risen by 23% to almost $5bn as a result of the defaults by the two nations, Bloomberg reports.