Transport minister grants Karpowership access to three SA ports

Transport minister Sindisiwe Chikunga has granted Turkey's Karpowership access to three South African ports for 20 years — but added that the approval came with conditions.

Karpowership's application was approved on February 26 and grants the company access to Ngqura, Durban and Saldanha Bay ports. 

The department on Thursday said the approval “is in line with the National Ports Act, which gives powers to the minister to approve applications of this nature”.

“The minister considered the application to safeguard the national security of the country and to discharge the international obligations of the republic. The Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) was consulted and supported the approval of the application.

“It is for this reason that the minister gave the TNPA latitude to make necessary decisions in implementing this directive, such as considering the safety measures and operationability of this directive.”

The department outlined the conditions attached to the approval, which are:

• TNPA reserves the right to include all the necessary commercial and safety requirements or agreements that are considered necessary during the period of this directive; and
• The directive is subject to all other government approvals such as environmental approvals from competent government departments and/or authorities.

The Karpowership deal has come under heavy scrutiny and criticism from energy and environmental experts since it first came to light in 2021.

The deal is an attempt to procure 1,220MW of emergency power in which the Turkish company would be contracted to deploy plants that produce electricity from ship-mounted generators.

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