Avin Maharaj Bio, Wiki

Avin Maharaj is the project’s director for the Kusile project, effective of January 23rd, 2020 as per internal Eskom communication seen by Fin24.  The former Eskom Executive Manager was brought back into the fold after a stint working at the Redondo Peninsula Energy company in the Philippines in 2017, to manage the Kusile construction project. Kusile Power Station in South Africa is a coal-fired power plant under construction by state electricity utility Eskom.

Avin Maharaj Education

Maharaj went to The University of Salford for a Masters in Project Management. He did an Executive Leadership Programme at The University of Texas at Austin. He also says in his Linkedln that he attended the Unisa Graduate School of Business Leadership (SBL), University of South Africa/Universiteit van Suid-Afrika and St Oswald’s Technical College for a Management Development Programme, Higher Diploma in post School Education and National Diplomas Mechanical & Electrical Engineering respectively.

Avin Maharaj Career

Maharaj was appointed as a senior project manager at Eskom in 2007. He managed various new power generation projects including work on the Ingula Pumped Storage Scheme Project. He was also project director at the Grootvlei and Sere Wind Farm projects and was involved at a senior level at Medupi.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Maharaj was in charge of developing and implementing a turnaround strategy for Ingula after a number of safety incidents. This included the construction of two new dams. He oversaw the construction of Eskom’s first Wind and Concentrated Solar Power Stations and a 68-kilometer coal railway line. Prior to that, from 2011-2012, he was an executive project manager at Medupi.

Avin Maharaj Kusile project – Eskom

Avin Maharaj was named the project’s director for the Kusile project, effective of January 23rd, 2020 as per internal Eskom communication seen by Fin24. Maharaj was brought in from the Philippines, according to the correspondence, and replaces Binesh Singh, who held the position at Kusile until now.

The Kusile project has been beset by cost overruns and delays. With an (eventual) installed capacity of 4800 MW, the mammoth power station will be the fourth largest of its kind on earth, according to Eskom.

Eskom Chief Operating Officer (COO), Jan Oberholzer, informed the company of Maharaj’s appointment via an internal memo last Friday. “Avin has an extensive array embedded knowledge and experience, both locally and internationally, which will significantly contribute to and enhance our current portfolio within operations,” Oberholzer said in an internal memo to staff.

He has over two decades worth of experience in the local and Philippines power industries, and has managed projects worth anything from $10m to $10bn, Oberholzer says.