$80 Billion Dam for the Congo

Posted by Miss Cellania in Architecture on April 22, 2008 at 9:44 am


A proposed hydroelectric dam on the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo could double the electricity available in all of Africa and bring power to hundreds of millions of people. Representatives from seven African countries are meeting with construction firms and bankers to plan construction on Grand Inga, as the dam is named.

Grand Inga was proposed in the 1980s but never got beyond feasibility studies because of political turmoil in central Africa. But now it stands a chance, according to Gerald Doucet, secretary general of the World Energy Council thinktank, which is convening the London meeting.

“It is the greatest sustainable development project, offering Africa a unique chance for interdependence and prosperity,” said Doucet. “It’s much more feasible now than ever. There is a peace settlement in Congo, and economic and technical studies have all shown it is possible.”

Some advocacy groups fear that even if an incredible amount of power is generated, it won’t benefit most citizens of Africa. Terry Hathaway of the organization International Rivers fears corruption in such a large project.

Hathaway said that the 94% of people in Congo DRC and the two in three Africans who have no electricity now were unlikely to benefit because the dam depends on exporting its electricity to existing centres of industry, especially in South Africa where there have been power shortages.

“As it stands, the project’s electricity won’t reach even a fraction of the continent’s 500 million people not yet connected to the grid. Building a distribution network that would actually light up Africa would increase the project’s cost exponentially. It would be very different if rural energy received the kind of commitment and attention now being lavished on Inga,” she said.

The proposed cost of the Grand Inga is estimated at $80 billion. Link -via Digg


Previous post
this post? Please Email this               
Next post


FUN PRODUCTS FROM THE NEATORAMA SHOP:


COMMENT

10 comments to "$80 Billion Dam for the Congo"

  1. Justin
    April 22nd, 2008 at 11:23 am

    Wow! 2/3 Africans don't even have power!

  2. batchild
    April 22nd, 2008 at 11:54 am

    I might have thought this was a great idea until I read Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.

  3. Christophe
    April 22nd, 2008 at 2:07 pm

    Well, you gotta get money to buy all those Chinese weapons

  4. J of The Sandhills
    April 22nd, 2008 at 5:02 pm

    even if the majority of power is directed towards industry, that might mean increase production and expansion of business.

    besides, the infrastructure to deliver power to individual homes is a long way coming, even if the dam is built. look how long it took for rural homes in america to get on the grid

  5. mark
    April 22nd, 2008 at 6:18 pm

    The criticisms are pretty silly. Corruption is rampent in smaller programs without oversight (ie NGOs). Programs of this scale will have way to many eyes on it and performance metrics to lose much to corruption, plus, project managment will be mostly western. Also, even if there is corruption, what an awful argument against it, African's need power. Anytime something may have corruption it shouldnt be done? I guess that means we should send a dime more aid to africa, and close all their businesses, and never build power plants for them. Also, they have huge shortages in power, people connected to power don't have power. Let's fix that easy problem first then worry about those not on the grid (2/3 are not on grids, they have generators).

  6. Abdul Alhazred
    April 23rd, 2008 at 7:22 am

    Considering there's a war going on there ...

    What's the point of building the plant (even assuming it gets sufficient military protection), when the transmission lines are certain to be sabotaged or stolen?

  7. Gerry
    April 23rd, 2008 at 8:24 am

    $80Billion spent and then we'll get another 200Billion emails a year promising us untold riches if we'll just send a check to cover the administration of secret funds or lottery winnings being smuggled out of Nigeria.

    Brilliant!!!

  8. fsmarch
    April 23rd, 2008 at 9:13 am

    How about feeding the starving people, first?

  9. Akiro
    April 23rd, 2008 at 6:14 pm

    Creating the dam would have a terrible environmental impact as hydroelectric power dams are particularly damning on the environment... green pun :)

    The damn would destroy a huge amount of land from flooding for the reservoir. This would remove animal habitat and farming land. There is also the terrible disruption to the river dams cause.

    I agree with fsmarch lets focus on food not electricity production.

    Oh and anyone have problems logging in today? Lots of PHP errors for me.

  10. Moon
    April 23rd, 2008 at 8:19 pm

    Akiro, how does that work? Would oil be a better thing to use for power? Coal? If there was a landslide and it blocked a river, would that be a terrible environmental impact?

    I believe they are hoping to get an economy started and join the rest of the world. You don't build transmission lines first and then build power plants.

    It also seems like exporting power would provide needed cash.

    I don't know all the details obviously, but it seems to me this has a good chance of being a win-win. Unless you just want them to remain a fifth world country with no hope.


PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT

Neatorama Comment Policy
You don't have to register or login to comment, but it's easier if you do so. Comments aren't censored, but those that are abusive or off-topic may be edited or deleted.


Stay updated on the comments with Comment RSS