East Africa countries launch hydro project expected to benefit a mln people

Construction of the regional Rusumo Falls Hydroelectric Project has kicked off at the Tanzanian border district of Ngara that is expected to benefit over a million people in East Africa when completed.

The project is owned by the three East Africa countries of Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania through a Special Purpose Vehicle, the Rusumo Power Company Ltd.

"We are very delighted today of the fact that the transboundary shared Rusumo Falls project has finally come to life, after more than 20 years since it was first identified," the Council of Ministers in charge of energy from Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania said in a joint statement after the launch on Thursday.

The project is expected to deliver a shared hydropower plant with an installed capacity of 80 megawatts.

Each of the three countries will receive 26.6 megawatts directly connected to their respective national grid through the transmission lines, which are expected to benefit over one million people in the three countries.

The construction of the hydroelectric power plant is funded by the World Bank at a cost of 340 million U.S dollars.

The project is being constructed by two contractors namely: CGCOC Group & JWHC JV from China for civil works and ANDRITZ Hydro from Germany/India for Electro-Mechanical works. The Rusumo Hydropower Project is scheduled to be completed and commissioned by 2020. Endit