January 24, 2012. The French consortium which has been granted a licence by the Zimbabwean government to build a $3 billion thermal power plant in the country is in the process of finalising preparations to commence construction. Revealing this to New Ziana, energy and power development minister Elton Mangoma said that when complete, the 2,000MW project which was being rolled out over the next four years was expected to alleviate the country's worsening power woes. Currently, the country's sole power utility, Zesa Holdings, is producing about 1,400MW against a national demand of over 2,000MW per day, leaving a shortfall which has to be imported. With the economy now recovering from a decade of contraction caused by sanctions by some Western countries, demand for power is rocketing.