China Gezhouba Group Corporation (CGGC), the main constructor of the Three Gorges project, has won a contract to build the 2600 Megawatt (Mw) Mambilla plateau hydropower station in Nigeria, the group announced on Monday.

The US$1.46 billion project is the largest hydroelectric power station Chinese companies have ever built in Africa, according to the group, which is based in Yichang city of central China's Hubei Province.

"The group has the world's advanced dam building and river closure technology. Despite environmental challenges in Africa and a complex geological structure, we are confident we can build a Nigerian 'Three Gorges' that will benefit the African people," said CGGC President Yang Jixue.

Yang met visiting Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2005 and introduced his company. Obasanjo wrote on his business card: Welcome to Nigeria, the Mambilla Station is waiting for you, Yang said.

The dam is being designed and construction is expected to last six years and nine months, according to the Nigerian federal government.

The Mambilla station is part of Nigeria's National Integrated Power Plants (NIPP). The Nigerian government has pumped US$2.5 billion into the NIPP project to strengthen power transmission infrastructure and the distribution network.

The Chinese government agreed to build the hydroelectric powerstation after China and Nigeria signed big deals at the Beijing Summit of the second China-Africa Forum in 2006.

(Xinhua News Agency April 3, 2007)