Initial contract inked for regional African power project
Xinhua, November 10, 2016 Adjust font size:
A 75 million U.S. dollars contract for the initial works on the construction of a regional power project at the Rwanda-Tanzania border was signed on Wednesday in Kigali.
The Regional Rusumo Falls Hydroelectric Project (RRFHP) will generate 80MW.
The deal was signed between Rusumo Power Company Limited (RPCL) and CGCOC Group Ltd - Jiangxi Water & Hydropower Construction Company Ltd Joint Venture (CGCOC - JWHC JV).
The agreement is to facilitate the execution of civil works which include the dam, waterways, power station and other associated civil engineering works.
The Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Program Coordination Unit signed on behalf of the contractor.
The generated hydroelectric power will be shared equitably among the three countries of Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania.
Eng. Elicad Elly Nyabeeya, regional coordinator of Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Program Coordination Unit, hailed the signing as a big step towards the construction works of the power project.
"We hope the contractors will finish the work agreed upon on time," he said.
The project is also expected to provide job opportunities for skilled, non-skilled and casual workers from member countries, he added.
Wednesday's agreement caters for supply and installation of Hydro-Mechanical equipment: the design, dam, waterways, power station and other associated civil engineering works and supply and installation of the electro-mechanical equipment.
The construction works at Rusumo site is expected to start in January 2017, for a period of three years.
The Regional Rusumo Falls Hydroelectric Project is a Nile Basin Initiative key Project prepared through its investment arm the Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Program Coordination Unit.
The whole project has two components that includes the Power Generation Plant of 80MW, whose construction is financed by the World Bank at a cost of 340 million U.S. dollars and the transmission lines that will connect the power plant to the national grids in the three countries financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) at a cost of 121 million U.S. dollars.
The governments of Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania agreed to jointly develop the project and manage the Hydroelectric Power plant through Rusumo Power Company Limited (RPCL) owned by the three countries.
The Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Program is the implementing agency for the construction of Rusumo Generation Plant. Endit