MEDIA STATEMENT: IMMEDIATE
IRP PUBLIC PARTICIPATION PROCESS PUSHED BACK BY A FEW WEEKS
The Department of Energy today (Tuesday, 07 September) announced that the IRP 2010 Public Participation Process that was due to commence on 01 September has been delayed for a few weeks.
Energy Minister, Ms Dipuo Peters said: “We made a presentation with regard to the IRP 2010 to the Inter Ministerial Committee (IMC) on Energy on 31 August. In this regard the IMC requested the department to do some further work on the IRP before the IMC finalises it. This, therefore, means that the department will not be able to go ahead with the public participation process that was scheduled to commence on 01 September.”
“The Department is committed to stakeholder engagement and public participation with regard to the IRP2010. This is a seminal electricity plan that is expected to outline the country’s electricity landscape for the next two decades. Public participation is crucial if we were to develop a plan that will stand up to scrutiny. It also has to be understood that we have to thoroughly engage with this plan so that whatever emerges from it will represent the widest spread of views across both government and civil society,” Minister Peters concluded.
Ends
Issued by the Department of Energy
07 September 2010
Enquiries: Bheki Khumalo on 082 773 2388 or 012 444 4256
