South Africa’s energy minister pledged transparency in the country’s efforts to seek a nuclear agreement on Tuesday, seeking to reassure opposition parties who have accused the government of favoring a deal with Russia.
South Africa, struggling with an electricity crunch that has caused frequent power cuts and threatens economic growth, said in May it will procure a nuclear fleet to generate 9,600 megawatts of power by 2030.
Analysts estimate the project will cost as much as $100 billion, making it the country’s biggest ever infrastructure project.
But there has been mounting concern among opposition parties about the cost and that agreements to build the nuclear plants will be made behind closed doors, without the necessary public scrutiny.
“We would want these agreements to be scrutinized and exposed to public scrutiny,” energy minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson told parliament, reiterating that no deal had been signed with anybody as a preferred bidder.
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