Johannesburg - Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe has confirmed that Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson will today release the long-awaited Integrated Energy Plan (IEP), which includes the procurement of nuclear power as part of the energy mix programme.
Radebe told the media in Parliament yesterday that the IEP had been served before the cabinet and that Joemat-Pettersson would make it public. The IEP is the overarching plan for the state to secure energy. It has been in the making since 2012.
Radebe said the cabinet had discussed the energy plan for the country. He said the 9 600 megawatt (MW) nuclear procurement policy would be reflected in the plan, which would also take into consideration the submissions made by the cabinet and government departments.
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The IEP, which was adopted by the cabinet two weeks ago, will unveil energy plans for the country and will consider the investments over the next decades.
The IEP has been in the making over the last four years with the government indicating that it would be an overarching policy on energy.
Yesterday in the National Assembly, Speaker Baleka Mbete said she would look into the closure of the meeting of the portfolio committee on energy to discuss PetroSA’s impairment of R14.5 billion.
Mbete was reminded by DA chief whip John Steenhuisen that she had promised to investigate the motive behind the decision of the committee, chaired by ANC MP Fikile Majola, to close the meeting from the public.
She was asked to investigate the conduct of ANC MPs to close the meeting of the committee when the report was tabled.
PetroSA bosses were to table the much anticipated forensic report on the losses that were incurred through the gas fields project called Project Ikhwezi in Mossgas.
The state oil firm took a decision in 2007 to construct five wells in the ocean after it was discovered the refinery would run out of gas by 2013.
But the gas fields did not yield the volumes projected by PetroSA, leading to the impairment of billions and some of the assets in the ocean to be written off because of the failure of the project.
The project was also delayed by 21 months, leading to extra costs to the company.
The forensic report has not been made public since it was given to Minister Joemat-Pettersson.
BUSINESS REPORT