As reported by Alternative Energy Africa on August 14, the Inga III power project faced a setback as investors from the Western Power Corridor Company (Westcor) decided to pull out of the project and shut down its Botswana office.
Westcor, a JV between African utilities from five Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, namely, SNEL (Democratic Republic of Congo), ENE (Angola), Nampower (Namibia), BPC (Botswana), and Eskom (South Africa), took action after the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) decided to develop the project alone. This news left many feeling as though the project would remain stagnant, with little hope to reach fruition for some time to come.
However, independent public affairs consultant Dr. John Maré said he believes that the Inga III hydro project will continue as planned, despite recent pullouts.
The initial plan is that the Inga III project will supply electricity to South Africa, Botswana, Angola, and Namibia, and will be rolled out and managed by Westcor, an entity the shareholders of which include power utilities from the participating countries.
Maré adds that he would understand if Eskom pulled away from Inga because of funding problems, but questions the element of political risk in the DRC. However, Eskom has faced recent monetary obstacles in several projects including South Africa’s largest solar energy project that was delayed by Eskom and is now seeking other investors. And while Eskom awarded contracts for the Ingula hydroelectric power generation project in May 2008, the state-owned power utility has said that it will be delayed for three to four months from its initial commissioning date in 2012.