Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said his priority now was to ensure the expansion of the national grid was treated with urgency.
Ramokgopa announced at a media briefing on Tuesday that Eskom was looking to improve the country’s transmission network.
This is, however, a process that will need the participation of Parliament, the finance ministry and the private sector.
The expansion of the electricity grid forms part of the energy action plan – the core goal is to bring an end to the rolling power cuts.
The South African government will need more than R100 billion by the start of the next financial year to fund the expansion of the national grid.
This will be on top of Eskom’s already strained budget and the bailouts it has received from the Treasury over the past years.
But Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said failure to treat the expansion of the national grid with urgency would be a hindrance to the implementation of the energy action plan.
“What I want to emphasize is the speed with which we are able to make this decision. Otherwise, we are going to sit on the transmission side with the same problems we are sitting on the generation side, which is the speed of decision-making.”
The government is yet to establish the funding model for the national grid’s expansion.
-EWN
In other news – Watch: Uncle Waffles celebrates a big milestone in New York
Well-known Swazi-born DJ and record producer based in South Africa, Lungelihle Zwane, known professionally as Uncle Waffles reflects on her early days as a musician, and she’s grateful for how far she has come.
It didn’t take the DJ years of struggle before she broke into the industry and garnered fame both nationally and internationally. Waffles has bagged endorsements from top stars like Drake, Ciara, and a few others. Read More
