Kibo says Tanesco tender to resume shortly

2nd November 2018 By: Creamer Media Reporter

An announcement by the Tanzania Electricity Supply Company (Tanesco) cancelling three tenders for large solar power, coal-fired generation projects and large wind power projects is “unfortunate, but not out of the ordinary”, dual-listed Kibo Energy CEO Leon Coetzer said on Friday.

The company, which trades on the London and Johannesburg stock exchanges, stated that it was its understanding that a tender to do a feasibility study, finance, build, own, operate and transfer coal power projects of between 150 MW and 300 MW in one location would “definitely still going ahead” and that it was not affected by the Tanesco announcement.

However, there were certain procedural amendments required to the process before the tender could proceed, although these should not impact the expected timeline for the completion of the tender process.

Kibo last month submitted formal tender qualification documents to Tanesco for its Mbeya coal-to-power project (MCPP).

“We are looking forward to resuming the tender process shortly. In a rather curious manner the company welcomes the brief respite in respect of the MCPP process allowing us to bolster our efforts in Botswana and Mozambique, where multiple work streams are constantly gaining in momentum to see the ongoing technical studies and power purchase agreement negotiations for the Mabesekwa Independent Coal to Power Project and Benga Independent Power Project completing ahead of schedule,” Coetzee said.

Shares in Kibo fell by as much as 31% to 1.43p on the London bourse on Friday, before recovering to 1.9p by the afternoon. The stock traded unchanged at 55c on the JSE.