“The Eskom board and management are committed to completing Kusile power station within the revised, board-approved completion date in the 2024/25 financial year, and within the project budget of $82.7 billion, excluding interest during construction.
“This project budget remains unchanged,” said South African Deputy President David Mabuza, responding to oral questions in a recent National Council of Provinces meeting.
The Deputy President had been asked what action has government, as the overseer of Eskom, taken to ensure the project goes according to schedule, and whether the plans were sufficient for the success of the project.
Mabuza said the Eskom board and management have been driving efforts to complete Kusile to meet the target date. Resolving the issues hindering completion of the project has also been prioritised. “Through the annual shareholder compact, Eskom is measured on the delivery of major milestones for both Medupi and Kusile projects. The status of the project schedule, progress and mitigation actions are monitored through regular executive engagements with the Department of Public Enterprises.”
The Deputy President said delays at unit four to unit six were due to contractor financial, commercial and contractual issues: “However, the project team is pursuing rigorous schedule recovery plans for achievements of milestones that are at risk.
“The commercial operation target dates for the remaining three units are January 2023 for unit four, December 2023 for unit five and May 2024 for unit six.
“Furthermore, we can report that during our visit to Kusile Power Station last month, the Political Task Team on Eskom was encouraged by the progress being made and the commitment by management to implement appropriate risk management plans and design defect modifications,” explained Mabuza.
The Deputy President said measures have been put in place to strengthen project monitoring, oversight and assurance capability. This will result in increased controls over productivity and ensure contractor and suppliers quality inputs to avoid schedule and cost overruns.
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