Botswana power project costs could top $10 bln-AfDB

CAPE TOWN, June 4 (Reuters) - The African Development Bank said on Wednesday that the cost of Botswana's giant Mmamabula energy project could rise way above $10 billion from a previous estimate of $9.5 billion.

"The project costs have been going in one direction and that is upwards and so I personally won't be surprised if it ends up being higher than $10 billion," Tim Turner, director of private sector and microfinance development at the AfDB, told delegates at the World Economic Forum conference in Cape Town.

The project, which includes a coal mine and two 2,500 megawatt power stations, is situated in southeast Botswana on the border with South Africa and was initially slated to cost around $6 billion.

The project is being developed jointly by Canada's CIC Energy Corp (ELC.TO: Quote, Profile, Research), International Power Plc (IPR.L: Quote, Profile, Research) from Britain and Japan's Sumitomo.

(Reporting by Wendell Roelf)