Burundis energikapacitet vil blive fordoblet med to nye dæmninger, der har fået international støtte på ialt 270 millioner US dollars. Det lille østafrikanske land er et af de mest underforsynede med elektricitet i verden.
WASHINGTON, 22 April, 2014 (World Bank): The World Bank Group Tuesday approved a 100 million US dollar (ca. 540 mio. DKR) grant to Burundi in Central Africa for the Jiji and Mulembwe hydropower project.
Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) is suffering from a sustained and chronic power crisis. Only 31 percent of the population has access to electricity, leaving nearly 600 million people without energy access.
In Burundi, only four percent of the ten million-large population currently has access to electricity, marking some of the lowest access rates anywhere in the world.
The development objective of the Jiji-Mulembwe hydropower project is to increase the supply of clean and low-cost hydropower electricity to Burundi’s national grid (el-net). The project will almost double the installed generation capacity in Burundi.
The two stations – one on the Jiji River and the other on the Mulembwe River – will be located about five kilometers apart. The Jiji is a tributary (biflod) of the Mulembwe River which flows into Lake Tanganyika.
On Jiji, plans are for a 13.5-meter high concrete dam to be built, producing a small 80,000-cubic meter reservoir. On the Mulembwe River, a 14-meter high concrete dam will be built to hold 40,000 cubic meters of water.)
Styrkelse af det offentlige netværk
An important aim of the project is to provide technical assistance for strengthening the publicly-owned electricity and water production and distribution company, REGIDESO, so that it is better equipped to sustainable manage the construction and operate and maintain the hydropower facilities.
In addition, the project will finance power sector reforms and institutional development.
The Jiji-Mulembwe hydropower project brings together a coalition of donors that includes the African Development Bank, European Investment Bank, European Union, the Government of Burundi and REGIDESO.
The total cost of the project is 270.4 million dollar.
As efforts intensify to narrow the electricity deficits that are constraining job-led growth and economic competitiveness in Sub-Saharan Africa, projects such as the Jiji-Mulembwe hydropower project can serve as a platform for boosting energy access.
This project complements earlier projects financed by the World Bank such as Rusumo Falls and rehabilitation efforts underway for the Ruzizi I and II projects. Taken together, these efforts are needed to meet the bold targets set by the Sustainable Energy for All initiative.
Se også
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2014/04/22/world-bank-to-finance-new-hydropower-development-in-burundi
