Maputo, 15 Nov (AIM) – The African Development Bank (AfDB) intends to disburse 162 million dollars for the implementation of the Mpanda Nkuwa hydroelectric project on the Zambezi River, about 60 kilometres downstream from the existing Cahora Bassa dam, in the central Mozambican province of Tete.
The amount, according to Wednesday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Notícias”, will be granted as a soft loan to the publicly-owned electricity company, EDM.
The Bank has also committed itself to disburse a further 300 million dollars in guarantees for investments in this hydroelectric project.
Mozambique’s power sector currently has a capacity to generate 2,750 megawatts, and when the Mphanda Nkuwa dam is in operation, it is expected that the country will generate 4,300 megawatts.
The project includes a power station with an installed capacity to generate 1,500 megawatts, and a high voltage electricity transmission line running for 1,300 kilometres, from the Zambezi Valley to Maputo.
According to Carlos Yum, Director of the Mpanda Nkuwa Implementation Office (GMNK), who was speaking at the African Development Forum, held recently in Morocco, Mpanda Nkuwa Hydroelectric project was one of those projects selected by the Forum, held under the AfDB’s auspices.
Yum explained that AfDB chose Mpanda Nkuwa project after appreciating “the organized structure of the project, as well as the technical, environmental and financial viability of it, considering its social impact, in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”
The GMNK, on the sidelines of the Forum, also met with the Islamic Development Bank and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), a member of the World Bank Group.
(AIM)
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