Mozambique: Eni to fund Thermal Power Plant in Temane - AIM report
Mozambique: Government creates Mphanda Nkuwa Office to spearhead new large dam project
1:23 CAT | 12 Feb 2019
Zambezi River, at the site of the proposed Mphanda Nkuma Dam. File photo: .internationalrivers.org
The Mozambican government has created an entity responsible for the implementation of the Mphanda Nkuwa Hydroelectric project, which will probably take at least another decade to be built and begin operation, according to an official note sent to Lusa.
The entity, entitled Mphanda Nkuwa Hydroelectric Project Implementation Office (Gabinete de Implementação do Projecto Hidroelétrico de Mphanda Nkuwa – GMNK), will be responsible for coordinating and carrying out the necessary actions for the development of the project, the statement from the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy details.
The GMNK will also have the task of creating and maintaining a database ensuring the intellectual property standing of the studies and all documentation relevant to the proper execution of the project.
“It will also propose measures for the resolution of pending matters related to the current concession, as well as hiring specialised consulting in the field of transactions, providing experience in similar transactions, giving credibility to the process and increasing the confidence of investors and financiers.”
Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi announced last August that Mozambique Electricity (EDM) and Cahora Bassa Hydroelectric (HCB) were in charge of revitalising the dam project.
Last October, in an interview with Lusa, Deputy Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Augusto de Sousa said that the project could take at least another decade.
“Speaking very frankly, Mpanda Nkuwa should go to 2028 or 2029. Earlier than that, it does not happen,” Augusto de Sousa said in an interview with Lusa after the construction of the project returned to the agenda.
De Sousa explained that HCB “can go to the market and get financing to implement the project”, but that there was still some preliminary work to do.
“We are looking at all the past documentation,” checking that “there is nothing that penalises the government” since the construction plan was approved in September of 2007, passing from then on through several hands but never materialising.
According to official figures, 70% of Mozambique’s electricity is hydroelectric, largely from the Cahora Bassa dam, with the remaining 30% coming from gas extracted by South Africa’s Sasol in Inhambane, in the south of the country.
ALSO READ: Mozambique: Mpanda Nkuwa hydro dam approved in 2007 ‘to take another decade’
Confusion over Mphanda Nkuwa – By Joseph Hanlon
Source: Lusa
Show comments
Also read
Leave a Reply
Be the First to Comment!
You must be logged in to post a comment.
You must be logged in to post a comment.