President Jacob Zuma will on Friday, 20 September 2013, officially re-open the Grootvlei Power Station in Balfour, Mpumalanga, as part of the roll out of the Government's Infrastructure Build Programme.
On the same day, the President will first inspect progress made in the construction of the Balfour Railway Line, which is intended to ferry coal to the Grootvlei Power Station in line with migrating from road to rail in the transportation of coal.
President Zuma chairs the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission which has introduced a central coordination within the Presidency of all major infrastructure projects in all three spheres of government, to ensure closer monitoring and delivery of social and economic infrastructure.
The return to service of the Grootvlei Power Station will assist with the electricity demand requirements on the National Grid by providing maintenance space for other power stations. It will also support the road to rail migration plan as well as reduce the number of heavy haulage trucks damaging the roads in Mpumalanga province.
The Grootvlei power station was built in the late 1960's consisting of six coal fired units and has an installed capacity of 1200 megawatts. However, this station was mothballed in 1990 due to excess power at the time, and following a R7,2 billion upgrade it now has been returned to service. This is part of Eskom's return-to-service projects which also included Camden and Komati power stations.
In line with their own commitments to migrate freight volumes to rail, Transnet has re-instated the Grootvlei - Balfour rail line which is approximately 30 kilometres in length. This rail line will be capable of initially transporting three million tons of coal per annum to the Grootvlei power station.
"We expect the first phase of the project to be completed by December this year and the second phase by April 2014. Already the development on the rail line sees 9 kilometres of track successfully installed,'' said Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba on the rail line construction.
The Grootvlei-Balfour railway line forms part of the broader branchline network. In South Africa, branchlines total 7 000 kilometres in rail network whilst the core rail network is 12 800 kilometres in length.
Branchlines form a critical link in the overall transportation system and are an integral component of the revitalisation of the freight traffic road to rail migration strategy. This rail network will contribute to local economic and socio-economic development of communities.
The Balfour-Grootvlei line re-instatement project links the ESKOM Grootvlei Power Station to Balfour North Station in the Mpumalanga Province. The project provides a containerised coal solution for the ESKOM Grootvlei Power Station and seeks to:
- Reduce road transport for coal transportation
- Reduce road infrastructure damage
- Create environmental and economically friendly logistics solutions
- Assist in promoting safety for road users.
In total over 200 jobs would have been created over the railway project's lifespan.
The Eskom power station project has seen 3 800 people employed during peak operations.
The details of the event are as follows:
Date: 20 September 2013
Time: 9h00
Venue: Grootvlei Power Station, Balfour, Mpumalanga
Enquiries:
Mac Maharaj
Cell: 079 879 3203
E-mail: macmaharaj@icloud.com
Transport arrangements
Transport has been provided for media to the re-opening of Grootvlei Power Station. A mini-bus taxi will leave from Johannesburg at the GCIS Provincial office (Corner Kerk and City Hall) while Pretoria based journalists will leave from the GCIS Head-office in Hatfield (corner Festival and Francis Baard streets). Departure to Grootvlei Power station is 07h00. The programme in Grootvlei starts at 10h00.
The Transport details are as follows:
Date: 20 September 2013
Time: 07h00
Venue: GCIS provincial office, Corner Kerk Street and City Hall
Contact: Peter Gumede
Cell: 083 570 8080
Zimkhita Nodlaba
Cell: 074 665 5250
Pretoria based journalists
Time: 07h00
Venue: GCIS Head office Hatfield, Corner Festival and Francis Baard (Schoeman) street)
Contact: Richard Mantu
Cell: 072 488 1520
For enquiries contact:
Richard Mantu
Cell: 072 488 1520
E-mail: Richard.mantu@dpe.gov.za or
Sipho Neke
E-mail: Sipho.neke@eskom.co.za
Cell: 082 619 0595.
