Dams
The politics of
power
The shouts of Swedish student demonstrators have produced a loud echo in the
Zambesi Valley this month. Political and
legal, pressures in Stockholm which made
the electro-manufacturing giant ASEA
walk out of a 14-company consortium
may have dealt a serious blow to the
£150 million dam on the Zambesi at
Cabora Bassa in the Portuguese territory
of Mozambique. Any prospect that ASEA
could be wooed back seem to have faded
away.
The consortium, Zamco, was pains*
takingly constructed by South Africa's
Anglo American Corporation in 1967 to
bid for the dam contract,.and seemed to
have all the talents needed- ASEA, with
its unique mastery of high-voltage direct
current systems, ensured that Cabora
Bassa's power could be moved to the main
potential buyer, South Africa, more
cheaply and without the heavy losses of
current involved in a/c transmission
over long distances.
Zamco was awarded the tentative contract more than a year ago in the face
of largely British and American rivalry ;
its own ranks included, in addition to
ASEA, French, Italian and German concerns. Then in Lisbon the Portuguese
began to brood. At one point, Dr
Caetano implied that he was revoking
the deal with Zamco. Months slipped by,
with Zamco*s chairman, Mr Ted Brown,
commuting between Johannesburg and
Europe in efforts to win a formal
signature in time for engineering work to .
start before the November-April rains put
the Zambesi in spate. That is where the
left-wing Swedish students came in, The
delay allowed the mounting of a campaign against ASEA's involvement in a
scheme that would prop up Portuguese
colonialism in Africa, supply cheap power
to South Africa and possibiv benefit
nearby rebel Rhodesia. Swedish opinion
on this last point could run high ; a law
was passed in Sweden making it an offence
to be involved in any concern trading
with Rhodesia, At first, after the protests
ASEA sat tight, reluctant 10 lose a job in
which its share would be around £16
million. It also told the politicians that it
might have to fire 500 men if the work
did not come through.
But when at last Mr Brown of Zamco
rose triumphant from the negotiations on
September 3rd with a firm contract, that
very afternoon the Swedish company said
it was no longer part of Zamco. A
message from the board said ASEA had
not renewed its tender when this had
expired on July 31st—although it is
unclear whether Zamco or the Portuguese
were aware of that.
Zamco is putting a brave face on it all.
The French and west German, participants, Alsthom and Siemens, say they
will fill the breach. But for the vital
mercury valves for the HVDC system,
Zamco may have to turn to the English
Electric part of British GEC, with which
ASEA has links. As it happens, English
Electric was in the British consortium
beaten to the Lisbon post. Amid all the
anxiety, the South African power authority, Escom, may grow bearish and look
to alternative sources not so far from
home (the Cabora Bassa transmission
lines would be more than 850 vulnerable
miles long through Mozambique). Industrial growth in South Africa makes new
power essential by the mid- 1970s—and
Cabora Bassa would provide more than
2,000 MW after meeting the needs of
Mozambique. But apart from the deadline for work on the site next month,
Zamco must also face the risk that other
members of the consortium could trip over
the sanctions hurdles.
Farther up the Zambesi, another dam
scheme looks healthier. Very shortly,
signatures should complete several months
of negotiating for the £25 million North
Bank station at Kariba, which will give
an extra souice of power for Zambia's
copper mines, augment the supplies from
the Kafue-project now being constructed
near Lusaka, and avoid the need for the
costly Kafue Stage Two. Zambia will have
complete control over the new Kariba
station and need no longer rely upon the
goodwill of; Mr Ian Smith on the south
bank. As it happens, Britain will be
using Rhodesian funds frozen in Britain
since UDI for its part in financing the
project.
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