The International Resource Journal: DRC hydropower project dissolved

DRC hydropower project dissolved
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admin on 08 March, 2010 08:18:00
 
IRJ Mar 5 - A multibillion dollar hydropower project between Congo, Botswana,
South Africa, Namibia and Angola has broken down as the DRC weighs an offer from
BHP Billiton Ltd. The wester power corridor venture had the capacity to deliver
5,000 megawatts of power to the five countries. Congo’s National Electricity
Society (SNEL) chief executive officer, Yengo Massampu said, “It was a big
decision. It would be good for Congo to retain more of the project’s
electricity for its own use.” Western Power, known as Westcor, planned to
develop the Inga 3 project on the Congo river, the world’s second-biggest
river by volume after the Amazon.  Inga 3 promised 2,000 megawatts of power each
for Congo and South Africa, as well as a combined 1,000 megawatts for Angola,
Namibia, and Botswana. Congo is now in talks with BHP Billiton about using as
much as 2,000 megawatts from a future hydroelectric project for an aluminium
smelter in the country’s Bas Congo province, according to Illtud Harri, a BHP
spokesperson. Harri said, “The future of the aluminium smelter project hinges
on progress being made on the Inga 3 project and it is still very early days”.
 BHP is Africa’s biggest aluminium producer with two smelters in South Africa
and one in Mozambique.