The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will proceed with a smaller version of the Inga III hydropower project and expand the facility over time, President Felix Tshisekedi said.
The Inga III dam, which will begin as a 4 800 MWplant, will have its capacity increased to 7 500 MW and 11 000 MW eventually, Tshisekedi told lawmakers Friday in the capital, Kinshasa. Once completed, the facility would be the biggest hydroelectric power station on the continent and provide much-needed electricity to Congo and other nations, including South Africa.
The AfDB financed feasibility studies for the dam when it was envisaged as a 4 800 MW facility, in 2013. However, a year ago, two groups of Spanish and Chinese developers submitted a joint proposal to the government for a 11 050 MWdam that would cost about $14-billion.
The government’s latest model would give “us the latitude to combine some of these phases, given the fact that the demand for this energy is available and very urgent, especially to serve the development of a factory for aluminum electrolytic production,” Tshisekedi said, without elaborating further.
Congolese officials will meet with the AfDB in Ivory Coast before December 20 to sign the agreement, he said.