AfDB to provide US$162 million for Mpanda Nkuwa

Maputo, 15 Nov (AIM) – The African Development Bank (AfDB) intends to disburse US$162 million for the implementation of the Mpanda Nkuwa hydroelectric project on the Zambezi River, about 60 kilometres downstream from the existing Cahora Bassa dam, in the central Mozambican province of Tete.

The amount, according to Wednesday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Notícias”, will be granted as a soft loan to the publicly-owned electricity company, EDM.

The Bank has also committed itself to disburse a further US$300 million in guarantees for investments in this hydroelectric project.

Mozambique’s power sector currently has a capacity to generate 2,750 megawatts, and when the Mphanda Nkuwa dam is in operation, it is expected that the country will generate 4,300 megawatts.

The project includes a power station with an installed capacity to generate 1,500 megawatts, and a high-voltage electricity transmission line running for 1,300 kilometres, from the Zambezi Valley to Maputo.

According to Carlos Yum, Director of the Mpanda Nkuwa Implementation Office (GMNK), who was speaking at the African Development Forum, held recently in Morocco, the Mpanda Nkuwa Hydroelectric project was one of those projects selected by the Forum, held under the AfDB’s auspices.

Yum explained that AfDB chose the Mpanda Nkuwa project after appreciating “the organised structure of the project, as well as the technical, environmental and financial viability of it, considering its social impact, in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”

The GMNK, on the sidelines of the Forum, also met with the Islamic Development Bank and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), a member of the World Bank Group.
(AIM)