Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Sihle Zikalala says they are processing a number of applications for land that will be used by Eskom for transmission lines, as the power utility would need to build 14,000km of transmission lines in the next 10 years.
Zikalala said some of the land would be from his department. But they will wait for Eskom to approach them on the land they would need from public works.
Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has said they need to ramp up the process of expanding the grid to rollout renewable energy projects.
There are already 66GW of renewable energy projects in various stages of implementation.
But Ramokgopa said they were concerned that the grid capacity was not able to accommodate a number of projects.
The government would need R210 billion to expand the grid in the next 10 years.
Zikalala, who was replying to a written parliamentary question from IFP MP Sanele Zondo, said they receive a number of expropriation applications from Eskom for transmission lines.
Zikalala said he would assess the applications and if they are within the law they would be approved.
“According to current plans over the next 10 years Eskom’s Transmission division is supposed to build about 14,000km of transmission lines. For all these, Eskom will be acquiring servitudes from land owners. Therefore, during 2023/24 as Eskom rolls out its servitude acquisition programme, there could be some DPWI land that may be needed, and Eskom will only approach the Department at that time.
“Eskom only becomes aware of the land owners after the route has been confirmed and the service provider will then be appointed in this regard. The Appointed Service Provider identifies the affected landowners and the process of acquiring the servitudes starts by negotiations. If negotiations do not yield positive results, the expropriation process follows thereof. It is therefore difficult to be explicit in terms of the total number between 2023 and 2025,” said Zikalala.
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