The Trade and Industry Department is busy assessing whether to claim back R300-million given to Eskom to provide power for the now abandoned Coega aluminium smelter or "redirect it to the supply of electricity for other planned projects at the Coega IDZ (Industrial Development Zone) "outside Port Elizabeth.

Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said in reply to a question in Parliament that the R300-million was a "contribution to the cost of constructing power lines to the Coega Industrial Development Zone"

Replying to another question, Davies said the project by Rio-Tinto Alcan had been cancelled by mutual agreement between the government, Eskom and the global miner.

"The cancellation came about as a result of the current context regarding the supply of electricity, which has changed significantly from the time when Eskom entered into agreement with Alcan."

No inquiry had been commissioned into the cancellation of the project, as the circumstances that brought it about are well known to him, Davies said in his reply.

The Herald