POWER

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The South African Electricity Supply Commission (ESCOM) Project for South Africa will provide a loan of $30 million to the Electricity Supply Commission or ESCOM for the expansion of its generating, transmission, and distribution facilities. ESCOM, an autonomous state agency, was established in 1922 and supplies about 75 percent of the electricity generated in the Union. Currently, ESCOM does not have enough power to meet increased demands in the Union. The project will alleviate this problem by expanding ESCOM's power facilities. Its components are: 1) construction of 7 new power stations with a total capacity of 700,000 kw; 2) addition of 231,000 kw to existing power stations; 3) installation of 1,300 miles of high tension transmission lines and over 1,000,000 kva of transformer capacity; 4) extensions to the Kimberley Power Station; and 5) installation of a 132 kv interconnector for the Durban-Colenso stations. These improvements will increase ESCOM's power supply in order to meet consumer demands in South Africa.