MPHANDA NKUWA PROJECT: potential investors working on finishing touches
Experts and potential strategic investors, including the World Bank (WB) and the African Development Bank (ADB), are meeting in Maputo to discuss fine details for the implementation of the Mphanda Nkuwa hydroelectric project, budgeted at five billion US dollars.
For two days, experts will travel downstream from Cahora Bassa, on the Zambezi River, in central Tete province, to check on the ground environmental and physical conditions of the region where the new dam will be erected.
According to the director of the Implementation Office of the Mphanda Nkuwa Hydropower Project (GMNK), Carlos Yum, technical matters of the project will be discussed which will culminate with the preparation of the final documents to request funding.
'They brought their own experts who will produce economic and financial reports about the Mphanda Nkuwa project, after which we will move forward to sign an agreement for implementation of the project,' Yum said to the press, this Tuesday, on the sidelines of the Investors Conference meeting held in Maputo.
Construction of the dam, with capacity to generate 1,500 MW of power, will take seven years. Besides the dam, the project includes a transmission power line with a length of over 1,500 kilometres.
Asked about the benefits for Mozambique with the implementation of the project, he said the government expects the project to generate revenues through payment of taxes, and that during the construction phase the dam will employ about 10,000 workers of which 30 percent permanent by the end of the project.
The investors' conference and visit to the project site are an integral part of the international tender for selection of the partner who will develop the project.
In December 2021, the Mozambican government officially launched the tender to select a strategic partner to develop the hydropower project and transmission lines.
Interaction with partners, explained Yum, will clarify questions about the project and tender, the stage of review and update of technical, environmental, economic, financial and market studies, including legal issues, amongst others.
Permanent secretary of the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy, Teodoro Vale, attended the meeting, as well as officials from the Finance Ministry and Land and Environment and the Agency for Promotion of Investment and Exports (APIEX) among others.
(AIM)
