Seven African governments and some of the world's largest banks met in London on Monday to discuss the plans for a 40bn hydro power project on the Congo river. Supporters say it could double the amount of electricity on the continent.
The dam, which is predicted to be up by 2022, could double the amount of electricity produced by the worlds current largest dam, the Three Gorges in China. They hope the plan could jump start industrial development in Africa and bring electricity to hundreds of millions of people.
Governments and banks expect the dam to generate electricity to people as far as Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria and even Europe and Israel. However, environmentalist groups as well as locals warned that it could bypass the most needy and consign one of the poorest countries to monstrous debts.
The dam is planned to utilize one of the largest waterfalls by volume anywhere in the world. The waterfall is 9 miles of rapids which lie 90 miles from the mouth of the Congo river where the worlds second largest river drops nearly 100 metres in only eight miles. Two hydro electric plants, Inga 1 and Inga 2, were constructed near there in the 1970's. The third, dubbed the Grand Inga, will be massive in comparison. The plan is a 40,000 mw dam that sits 150m high and will harness 26,000 cubic metres of water per second, with over 50 turbines each producing nearly as much power as a British nuclear reactor.
The plan for the Grand Inga was proposed in the 1980's but never put into effect due to political turmoil in central Africa. The Secretary general for the World Energy Council thinktank, Geral Doucet, believes that today, the plan stands a chance.
It is the greatest sustainable development project, offering Africa a unique chance for interdependence and prosperity," said Doucet. "It's much more feasible now than ever. There is a peace settlement in Congo, and economic and technical studies have all shown it is possible. (Quoted in The Guardian, Monday April 21st)
Banks and private companies have realised the large amount of return they can earn in todays fast growing Carbon Offset market, which could make Grand Inga's prospects highten.
But the plans made on Monday have activists and locals worried. Some predict that the local people may be ignored in the process and the result could leave Congo with massive debts instead of industrial growth.
Terri Hathaway, Africa campaigner with International Rivers, a watchdog group monitoring the project said, The project would be a magnet for corruption in one of the world's least stable regions. Its enormous budget and large contracts could devolve Inga into a corruption-riddled white elephant. Inga will centralise a vast store of the region's electric and financial power, a development model that can foster tensions and civil wars. (Quoted in The Guardian, Monday April 21st)
Hathaway claims 94% of the people in Congo DRC and the two out of three Africans without electicity were unlikely to benefit from Grand Inga because the dam will depend on exporting it's energy to existing centres of industry, especially places like South Africa, where there have been power shortages.
"As it stands, the project's electricity won't reach even a fraction of the continent's 500 million people not yet connected to the grid. Building a distribution network that would actually light up Africa would increase the project's cost exponentially. It would be very different if rural energy received the kind of commitment and attention now being lavished on Inga," she said. (Quoted in The Guardian, Monday April 21st)
Congo has exported energy from Inga 1 and Inga 2 for many years now. However, most people in the area still live without electricity. Access to electricity across the country is less than 6% and in rural areas where 70% of the population live, it's less than 1%.
Although it is an enormous project, there are many social issues surrounding the Grand Inga. Some say that Congo must benefit, if not, the plan cannot go on.
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This post was written by Christine Pinella on March 26, 2008