Zimbabwe chose Russia. This is a key investment

Zimbabwe wants to achieve production of 4,000. megawatts of power by 2035, compared to the current 2.6 thousand. megawatts.

Joseph Siegle, research director at the African Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, expressed concerns about the financial and safety implications of the project for Zimbabwe, which has excellent conditions for generating energy using solar panels.

“Most economists would consider these transactions to be much more expensive than the potential future benefits they will bring to the economy and people of Zimbabwe,” Siegle said, quoted three days ago by Voice of America (VOA).

He also warned that “there is a fear that these huge projects will become a source of corruption, both in the country where they are built and in the Russian enterprises involved in them.”

In Africa, agreements with Russia have already signed for the construction of nuclear power plants Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa and one of the least electrified countries in the world, ruled by a military junta Burkina Faso. Mali is still in talks with Russia. Kenyawhich also wants to build such a power plant, has not yet decided who it will entrust with its construction. Rwanda however, it gave up the Russian proposal and chose the Canadian-German company Dual Fluid Energy to build a small reactor. Currently, the only African country producing nuclear energy is South Africa, but it was built by France The Koeberg power plant is already 40 years old and its expansion has been entrusted to the Russian Rosatom by the South African country.

By supporting African countries, especially the poor ones that cannot afford to finance such advanced and expensive projects, Russia is trying to make them dependent on it for decades, expand its influence on the continent, and at the same time weaken the sanctions imposed on it by the West for the invasion of Ukraine.