By Agnieszka Flak
JOHANNESBURG, Sept 12 (Reuters) – Construction of South
Africa’s 4,764 MW Medupi coal-fired power plant, meant to plug a
dire electricity shortfall, remained suspended following
protests at the site the previous week, state-owned utility
Eskom said on Wednesday.
Last week around 80 workers contracted by Murray Roberts
(MR) and Grinaker-LTA, part of construction group
Aveng, damaged some vehicles and equipment at the site
in an illegal protest over labour issues.
“We are working with the main contractors to assess when to
commence an orderly return of the workers to site, which we hope
will be as soon as possible,” Eskom spokeswoman Hilary Joffe
said in an emailed reply to questions, adding this would happen
this or next week.
Some 17,000 workers are employed at Medupi.
News agency SAPA reported three buses used to transport
workers to the power stations were set alight on Tuesday,
another flare-up of labour violence in Africa’s largest economy,
where the mining sector has been dogged by illegal strikes.
MR said on Wednesday the situation at Medupi was calm.
The first of six units at the Medupi plant, already delayed
by more than a year due to problems with boiler contracts, is
expected to start generating electricity late next year. It was
unclear if the strike would affect the timeline.
Continued…
