Eskom plans $50bn DRC project
2005-02-24 16:35
Nairobi - A South African energy firm announced ambitious plans on Thursday to build a massive, $50bn hydroelectric plant on the Congo River to provide low-cost power to 13 southern African nations.
Eskom Holdings said the project, which could take a decade or more to build in the currently unstable Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), would have a electricity generating capacity of 40 000 megawatts and would address power woes in Africa, the world poorest continent.
Under the plan, water will be siphoned from the mighty Congo through electricity-generating turbines before being diverted back to the river, according to the firm's chairman, Ruel Khoza.
The plan was presented to UN Environment Programme (UNEP) conference where Eskom championed it as a clean source of energy for the continent where about 526 million of some 800 million inhabitants have no access to electricity.
"It will address the bulk of Africa's need... at lower cost," Khoza told reporters.
"It will also provide an answer to Africa's industrialisation problems."
He said Eskom was seeking funding for the project from southern African governments and multilateral organisations such as World Bank and International Finance Corperation.
Once constructed, the plant will initially supply power to the 13 members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the DRC.
Other African nations would eventually be linked to the plant through a grid, Khoza said.
He added that if all went well, the plant could possibly export power beyond the continent to southern Europe.
UNEP gave the project a cautious thumbs-up but stressed that any plans had to be sensitive to the Congo River's fragile environment.
UNEP "stands ready to offer help and the advice to companies like Eskom and governments in Africa on how best to develop these technologies so that the environment issues are balanced with the economic and social ones", it said.
But the agency also noted that private investment was key to overcoming the continent's water and energy crises.