Congo invites collaboration on hydropower plant

7 September 2009

The Democratic Republic of Congo will open the doors to a $5 billion (£3 billion) Western Power Corridor hydropower project this week, the Congolese ambassador to South Africa has revealed.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Bene M'Poko said the goal was to expand the regional partnership in order to increase production.

"What we're going to propose [at the Kinshasa summit on September 7th-8th] is a framework whereby we should aim to produce more so that we can accommodate the needs of everyone in the region," he explained.

Mr M'Poko told the news source that the 15 members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) would be welcomed during the meeting to get involved in the project known as Inga III, which was established in 2005 between Angola, Botswana, Congo, Namibia and South Africa.

The SADC will also be urged to back the $80 billion Grand Inga project.

Grand Inga would build on Inga III's output, potentially generating 40,000 megawatts.

Category: Energy