Three SA ports are granted to Karpowership by the minister of transportation.

Turkey’s Karpowership has been granted 20-year access to three South African ports by Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga, though the approval was subject to conditions.

On February 26, Karpowership’s application was approved, granting the company access to the ports of Ngqura, Durban, and Saldanha Bay.

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

“In order to fulfill the republic’s international obligations and protect the nation’s security, the minister considered the application. Consultation was conducted, and the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) supported the application’s approval.

“It is hence that the clergyman gave the TNPA scope to go with essential choices in executing this mandate, for example, taking into account the wellbeing measures and operationability of this order.”

The following are the conditions attached to the approval, as outlined by the department:

During the course of this directive, TNPA reserves the right to include any and all necessary commercial and safety agreements or requirements; Additionally, the directive needs to be approved by all other government agencies, including those in charge of the environment.

Since it was first reported in 2021, experts in the fields of energy and the environment have criticized and criticized the Karpowership deal heavily.

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