Local industries will not be sidelined in the rollout of South Africas Independent Transmission Projects ITP programme. This was the assurance from Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa during last weeks industry engagement session on localisation and industrialisation of the Transmission Development Plan TDP and ITP.
His remarks followed a letter, dated September 23, to the Independent Power Producer IPP Office, co-signed by Sagren Moodley , Chairperson of the Powerline and Substation Association, as well as Lucio Trentini , CEO of the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa, and Philippa Rodseth , Executive Director of the Manufacturing Circle.
The three industry leaders raised concerns that the ITPs request for qualification RFQ may exclude local industry participation due to its extremely onerous pre-qualification criteria. They argue that the technical and financial requirements are so demanding that only a limited number of international firms will qualify and no South African company is likely to meet the threshold.