12 April 2007
Many remain skeptical that the proposed project represents a solution to Africa’s energy woes
The World Energy Council (WEC) convened a meeting of regional power companies and development banks to discuss the much-debated Grand Inga project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Held in Gaborone, Botswana on March 16 and 17, the forum was entitled “How to make the Grand Inga Hydropower Project happen for Africa.” While the project’s proponents have shown great enthusiasm about Inga’s unprecedented hydroelectric energy capacity of 39,000 MW - twice the capacity of Three Gorges Dam in China, the largest dam in the world today - many observers are skeptical that the proposed project represents a solution to Africa’s energy woes.
Environmental groups have flagged the project’s vulnerability to climate change, as well as other adverse impacts on the area’s inhabitants and local ecosystems. Earlier studies have already warned of the ecological threats that further dams would pose to the Congo River Basin, as presented in a biodiversity survey conducted by Innovative Resources Management. The study described the proposed Grand Inga dam as “the greatest future threat to the extraordinary biodiversity of the region.”
Moreover, Congolese and international groups have raised serious concerns about the prioritization of energy generation for export over provision of electricity to the vast majority of the local population in DRC lacking access today. The strong interest of Southern African governments and private companies in the development of the Inga site has also prompted many to question who is intended to benefit from the scheme.
A press release issued on the eve of the Gabarone conference quoted Terry Hathaway of the International Rivers Network (IRN) expressing this concern, "Grand Inga is not meant to benefit Africa’s poor…Once again, poor people are being used to sell a prestige project that will benefit industrial enclaves and urban elites." The megaproject, estimated to cost up to $80 billion, is said to have the capacity to power all of Africa, with energy to spare for export to the Middle East and southern Europe.
Civil society groups represented at the Gaborone conference issued a declaration insisting upon the inclusion of local communities in all planning and consultation regarding the future development of Inga. They reiterated demands made at a previous conference on Inga held in Johannesburg, that local communities must be not only involved in future decisions regarding Inga, but adequately compensated for the impacts of future developments, as well as provided with reparations for past harms.
Following the Gaborone meeting, however, reports emerged that a representative of local communities at Inga who had attended faced harassment upon his return home. Such reports raise serious concerns about the possibility for meaningful and free consultation with project-affected populations, and more fundamentally, about the freedom of expression and right of individuals to defend their interests.
Meanwhile, the World Bank is preparing a project to help fund the rehabilitation of the existing dams at the Inga site, as well as to build transmission lines and a distribution network. The “Regional and Domestic Power Markets Development Project,” which is expected to cost a total of $500 million, is part of a larger scheme to integrate the electricity grids in southern Africa, and to supply them primarily with energy generated from Inga.
The World Bank’s proposal to provide $295 million in financing for this project is expected to go before the Board of Directors at the end of May. Both the African Development Bank and European Investment Bank are also reportedly considering loans of $100 million and $92 million respectively, with the remaining $12 million to be made up by the DRC government.
Resources
- Congo rapids to power Africa, Italy by Carl Mortished, The Australian, March 17, 2007 (The Australian website)
- Press Release: Grand Inga - a dam for prestige, not poverty reduction in Dem. Republic of Congo, International Rivers Network, March 15, 2007 (IRN website)
- Africa waits on scheme to harness the power of the Congo River by Carl Mortished, The Times, March 16, 2007 (Times website)
- Biodiversity Survey: Systematics, ecology, and conservation along the Congo River, Innovative Resource Management, October 2002 (IRMGT website) (Acrobat PDF 4.63 MB)
- Civil society declaration on the development of Inga Hydroelectric site, October 6, 2006 (BIC website) (Acrobat PDF 963 KB)
- Inga project website, International Rivers Network (IRN website)