IFC starts Zambia hydropower feasibility study

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has started feasibility studies for the development of Africa's largest hydropower plant in Zambia, a senior official said today.

IFC senior investment officer Javier Calvo told reporters in Lusaka that a team of technical and legal experts started feasibility studies this week for the Kafue Gorge Lower Hydroelectricity project. The IFC is the private-sector lending arm of the World Bank.

Calvo said that the team is expected to design the structure of the 750 megawatt hydroelectric project that would be proposed to the investors and is expected to take six years to be completed.

Calvo said more than $1 billion is required to build the power plant whose feasibility study has been financed by the Zambian government, IFC, the African Development Bank (AFDB) and Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA).

Zambia already faces a power shortage and has been rationing power supply to the mining industry, the country's economic lifeblood since January.

Official data shows that Zambia's power utility, ZESCO generates 1 190 megawatts, short of the peak national demand of 1 400 megawatts.

The state firm expects to increase generation by 660 MW by early 2009 from a rehabilitation project, which would bring 450 MW and an extra 210 MW from upgraded machines. – Reuters