Calls mount for the $80bn Grand Inga power project to be scrapped
The $80bn Grand Inga project, aimed at generating 40,000 megawatts of power on the Congo river, is overpriced and susceptible to corruption and other risks, an environmental lobby group says. The project, driven by three construction giants from Spain and China and expected to be funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the European Investment Bank, among others, has been embroiled in controversy since it was announced. This led to the withdrawal of the World Bank as a potential sponsor in 2016. The hydroelectric project is not expected to begin producing power until 2024 or 2025. In 2014, the South Africangovernment approved the ratification of the Grand Inga Treaty with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The treaty would see SA buy more than half the power generated by the first phase of one of the world’s biggest hydroelectric projects. However, according to International Rivers, an organisation aimed at protecting rivers and the rights of communities that depend on...
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