Page 11 - AfrElec Week 21 2022

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China’s Sinohydro to build

$214mn hydroelectric

plant in Rwanda

RWANDA THE Rwandan government has started the con- rivers.
struction of a brand new power plant, expected According to Wang Jiaxin, Charge d’Affaires
to boost the East African country’s electrical in the Chinese Embassy of Rwanda, the plant will
capacity by 43.5MW by the end of 2024, local also help create arable land. “Every year, floods
publication The New Times reports. harm infrastructure and the livelihood of the
The Nyabarongo II Hydropower Plant, local people and due to some topographic fea-
located on the Nyabarongo River, will be built by tures, some people do not have access to elec-
China’s Sinohydro, a state-owned hydropower tricity,” he said.
engineering and construction company. The In the building of the plant, Chinese contrac-
$214mn project will be financed by a loan from tors will work alongside Rwandan engineers and
the Export-Import Bank of China. technicians and employ more than 1,000 locals.
“We count on the project because it will boost Li Jianguo, the project manager, said the plant
power supply in the country, helping us reach will also help Rwanda achieve its COP26 UN
our target of 2024 full coverage of electricity as climate change targets, according to The New
we shall have scaled up our generation capacity,” Times.
Felix Gakuba, managing director of Rwanda’s As well as its work in Rwanda, Sinohydro has
Energy Development Corporation Limited, is also operated in many other countries, including
quoted as saying. Israel, Bangladesh and Nigeria. In neighbouring
The project is designed to boost the govern- Uganda, the company is building a hydroelectric
ment’s bid to ensure universal access to electric- power plant at the Karuma Falls, due to be com-
ity by 2024. It is also designed to control flooding pleted this year for an estimated cost of $1.7bn.™
on marshland along Nyabarongo and Akagera

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