Mozambique has approved the construction of a $2 billion hydro-electric dam in a bid to increase power generation and attract foreign investments, the state-run Noticias daily newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The paper quoted Energy Minister Salvador Namburete as saying the new Mphanda Nkuwa dam would be built 60 kilometres downstream from the Cahora Bassa Hydro-electric dam (HCB) on the Zambezi River and would produce 1,500 megawatts of power.
Namburete said ownership of the dam would be split 20 percent by state-run Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) and 80 percent by a 50-50 joint venture by local company Energia Capital and Brazil’s Camargo Correia.
“It’s an infrastructure that will bring quality investments that will contribute to industrialization and the economic and social development of the country,” Namburete said.
Four turbines each with a capacity of 375 MW would be built in phase one of the project, expected to start in 2011, he said.
HCB, which has suffered from decades of neglect and lack of investment, exports 60 percent of its power to South African power utility Eskom and 35 percent to the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA). The balance is used locally.
