Ambitious hydro power plan in Africa

Construction companies, the biggest financial institutions in the world and seven African governments are to hold a meeting in London to deliberate on one of the most ambitious hydroelectric power projects ever envisioned - an eighty billion dollar hydro power project on River Congo which is believed to have the capacity to increase the amount of electricity in Africa to twice its current level.

The Group of 8 and some African governments expect the Grand Inga dam in the Democratic Republic of Congo to produce double the amount of electricity of the biggest dam in the world (presently China’s Three Gorges), and kick start development on the continent, taking electricity to millions of Africans. The Grand Inga dam is expected to generate as much as forty gigawatts of electricity from over fifty turbines which will be set up.

But while governments and financial institutions expect the dam to export electricity even beyond the African continent, the feeling from some quarters is that the most needy and closest to it would be bypassed and fail to reap the benefits.

The project however is not new. The proposal for Grand Inga dam was submitted as early as in the 1980s but political turmoil and instability put paid to the plans.

The secretary general of the World Energy Council brain trust, Gerald Doucet, expressed confidence that the project would take off arguing that it now stood a better chance since a peace accord had been signed in Congo.

The chances of the Grand Inga project seeing the light of day have increased in the past year due to nations, financial institutions and private firms finding they can generate high yields from the carbon emissions markets.