Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has inaugurated a Chinese-funded power station, saying it would help alleviate power shortages ahead of national elections.
Mnangagwa, 80, who is running for a second term as president on August 23rd, has been on a ribbon-cutting frenzy in an effort to depict himself as a go-getter and reassure people about the status of the economy.
He inaugurated a coal mine on Monday and a clinic on Wednesday before traveling to the northwestern town of Hwange to officially begin the 600MW coal-fired power plant.
Analysts predict a contentious vote later this month, in the midst of a crackdown on the opposition and a disgruntled populace dealing with hyperinflation, poverty, and high unemployment.
Mnangagwa told fans at a nearby stadium after the ceremony that the new factory will be “a critical enabler of development,” and that Zimbabwe was “open for business.”
For years, the landlocked southern African country has been plagued by chronic power outages, which at their worst late last year left millions of residents in the dark for up to 19 hours a day.
Although the government declared an end to blackouts in July, most people continue to face daily outages lasting a couple of hours.
Mnangagwa was also able to demonstrate that he still has good friends in the international arena, although Zimbabwe is mostly isolated.
The facility, which is an enlargement of an existing station, is one of four energy projects funded by a $1.2 billion loan from China, with which Harare has had links since the country’s independence from Britain.
Mnangagwa has long blamed the punitive measures for the country’s dire straits something the United States and Europe deny.
In Hwange he told supporters Zimbabwe would now be self-sufficient in its power needs and the government would continue to focus on growing the economy “by thinking outside the box”.
