The funding of the hydroelectricity project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Grand Inga III project, has raised concerns from one South African electrical engineer.
In his paper, “Why the Westcor Dream may be Unachievable in its Current Format,” Paul Tuson argues that the project’s ownership should reside exclusively with the DRC. The chief electrical engineer, transmission studies, at Parsons Brinckerhoff Africa said, "The DRC should be compensated in full for this renewable hydropower resource." He added that any regional benefits, negotiations, or quantity discounts should not contradict the basic economic and financial premise of the DRC’s ownership.
However, Alternative Energy Africa reported on August 14 (Westcor Drops Grand Inga III Project), that Western Power Corridor Company (Westcor), a joint venture (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), announced that it would pull out of the Inga III power project and is shutting down its Botswana office.
Yet it would appear that the DRC is taking matters into its own hands if Westcor did resign from the project as chairman of Westor, Kahenge Simson Haulofu, reportedly issued a confidential memo to Westcor directors saying that the DRC was trying to obtain private investors rather than its neighboring Southern African Development Community countries.
Alternative Energy Africa asks, what’s really going on with the Grand Inga III project?