PMFORUM Breaking News

Reported by Jaycee Krüger in South Africa

The Western Power Corridor Company (Westcor) recently announced the launch of the Inga III hydropower project developed by Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia, and South Africa and under the leadership of the African Union.

Inga III at 4 300 MW and at an estimated cost of US $4 billion is piloted by the World Bank, plus the EDF Group (France), and Lahmeyer (Germany). The building of the hydropower station will be carried out by five Southern African Development Community (SADC) members to supply the Westcor Power Project - formed by South Africa's Eskom, the Botswana Power Corporation, Angola's Empresa Nacional de Electricidade (ENE), NamPower of Namibia and Societe Nationale d'Electricite (SNEL) of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The pre-feasibility study for the station was completed by the end of 2007 and it is expected that construction may start in about 18 months to 24 months.

But Inga II is only a small part of the massive Great Inga project, at Inga Falls on the River Congo, where the river drops 100 meters, has a potential output of some 39,000 megawatts with an estimated cost of US$ 6 billion. That's three times as much as any existing hydroelectric dam anywhere in the world and more than twice that of China's controversial Three Gorges scheme.

Supporters would say that because the river runs strongly all year, no large dams will be needed. Even though the power may be generated through "run-of-river" works at Inga Falls, one big unknown is the effect on fisheries and river ecology. Even run-of-river plants can eliminate fish migrations, and they can badly damage silt flows, which are crucial to river ecology.

This, the world's largest hydroelectric project, on the Congo river, will have the capacity of supplying the current electricity demands of the entire continent.

For more information, visit http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article.php?a_id=127200.

Jaycee Kruger International Correspondent South Africa Jaycee Krüger, PMP, PrTechEng, is an International Correspondent for PMForum and PM World Today in South Africa. He is also the Managing Director of the CMSS, trading as Construction Management Support Services. He has over 29 years of experience in project environments with increasing responsibility, on power, industrial and mining projects, including shutdowns and projects in remote locations. A Civil Engineer by training, Jaycee is active in the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering International (AACE), Project Management Institute (PMI), Project Management South Africa (PMSA), and the South African Institute of Civil Engineering (SAICE). Jaycee is based in Heidelberg, Gauteng, Johannesburg region, and can be reached at jckruger@greybeards.co.za. For additional information about Jaycee Krüger, visit http://www.pmforum.org/pm%20forum%20team/index.htm#Kruger.