The African Development Bank (AfDB) says it will finance the construction of the Batoka Gorge hydroelectric power station on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe under a $20-billion development grant availed by the bank to fund 49 high-priority infrastructure projects across the continent as part of the joint AfDB, African Union and New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) Programme for Infrastructure Development In Africa.
AfDB chief infrastructure economist Shem Simuyemba says the Batoka hydropower project, on the Zambezi river, will cost an estimated $2.8-billion and has been identified as a top-priority project because of its potential to support regional development and sustain itself by tapping into the Southern Africa Power Pool (SAPP).
“Batoka is one of the projects that have been identified by potential financiers as one that can generate its own income because it is linked to the SAPP. This means that, if you generate power in Batoka, it will feed not only Zambia and Zimbabwe, but the whole of the SAPP,” Simuyemba says.
The project has been on the cards since the completion of a feasibility study in 1993 but its implementation has been held back by lack of funds.
The project will involve the construction of a dam and a hydropower plant complex that will comprise eight 200 MW power generation units on the Zambian side and another four 200 MW units on the Zimbabwean side.
Meanwhile, the AfDB says Zimbabwe will this year achieve 5% real gross domestic product growth, up from 4.4% in 2012, thanks to strong growth in the mining and agriculture sectors.