BBC News
From a set of rapids, comes a great vision.
On the Congo River, they plan to build a magnificent, multibillion-dollar mega-dam—one that would generate enough renewable electricity to power vast swaths of Africa.
The structure would be called the Grand Inga Dam. Located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it would have twice the energy production of three Chinese trials and, therefore, the largest hydroelectric plant in the world.
The Grand Inga Dam attracted investors and developers, but decades after it was first dreamed up, the site reserved for the structure remains untouched.
While the government dr. Konga insisted The plan is still in motion, critics point to long delays, the record of dr. Congo about mismanagement and the potential for serious environmental damage.
There is also concern about the revolving pool of international partners. Just last week, China’s state-owned Three Gorges Corporation pulled out of the project, a source close to the partnership told the BBC.
And then there’s the eyesore bill, which is reportedly as much as $80 billion (£63 billion) in a country that is one of the poorest in the world.
But some believe nay-sayers are holding Grand Inga to a different standard than other major infrastructure projects. And while the construction has not started, in the last year there has been a flurry of meetings and discussions between interested parties.
The need for Grand Ingo is certainly there. About 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa lack access to electricity, according to the International Energy Agency, a global watchdog.
Attempts to solve this problem date back decades – and in the early 2000s, Dr Congo and its neighbors – South Africa, Angola, Namibia and Botswana – dreamed of an interconnected electricity grid.
They looked at the vast Congo River, realizing that its mighty waters had enormous hydroelectric potential.
An international collective – known as Westcor – sought to duplicate two dams that already existed on the river – Inga 1 and Inga 2.
Long-time leader dr. Congo’s Mobutu Sese Seko oversaw their construction in the 1970s and 1980s, but by the end of the century both dams were falling apart due to lack of funds to maintain them.
Westcor eventually disbanded, but their Grand Inga dream lived on. Inga 1 and 2 are now operating at around 80% of their capacity, and DR Congo has drawn up plans to supplement this output by adding six more dams along the river.
These additional dams are expected to generate up to 40,000 mW of electricity At any given time – enough to power New York City for about four days during the summer.
Through Inga, dr. Congo will play its role as the “trigger of Africa’s revolver … a catalyst for the industrialization of Africa,” says the country’s agency for development and promotion of the Grand Inga project.
The BBC contacted the agency for this article but did not comment.
Despite previous projections that Inga 3 would be completed by 2018, construction has not even started.
The lack of visible progress suggests the project has stalled, but a recent message from the World Bank – the world’s leading development organization – suggests otherwise.
Late last year, the bank announced it was returning to talks with the Congolese government, withdrawing funding for Inga 3 in 2016.
The World Bank cited “strategic differences”, but eight years later – and when Félix Tshisekedi replaced Joseph Kabila as president, Dr. Congo – it did.
“I think it’s the first time I feel more optimistic. I almost believe we can do it,” Demetrios Papathanasiou, the World Bank’s global director for energy and extractives, told a South African panel last February.
This optimism also seemed to be felt elsewhere. A pan-African alliance of financial institutions – including the African Development Bank – recently worked together to help attract private investment in the project.
Grand Inga is like “a snake – up, down, visible, not visible,” José Ángel González Tausz, president of AEE Power, a Spanish company and partner in the project, told the BBC.
In November, Fabrice Lusinde, head of the public electricity company dr. Konga, said that if work on Inga 3 begins in 2026, two of its turbines should be up and running by 2032. The electricity produced by these turbines would then finance another turbine plant, he said.
Alone, Inga 3 is projected to produce 4,800MW of electricity. South Africa, country hampered by regular power outagessigned a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) stating that it would import slightly more than half of this amount.
South African authorities have argued that Inga will provide consistent and reliable power, but critics in the country say cheaper electricity can be found elsewhere.
A Nigerian company, Natural Oilfield Services, has also reportedly signed up as a buyer. Like South Africa, Nigeria also suffers from severe electricity shortages.
Guinea and Angola have reportedly expressed interest in the Grand Inga Dam.
So why – after decades of talks – have no new dams materialized?
“It’s a project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” says Mr. Tausz. “Even if the project is one of the best in the whole world – it has no credibility.”
For decades, the DR Congo has been plagued by corruption, lack of infrastructure and slow development. The conflict in the east of the country is also making international headlines – even though Inga is thousands of kilometers from the fighting.
Investors are also “scared” because Grand Inga would not show returns for decades, Mr Tausz says, adding “who knows what will happen in the Congo in the next 30 years”.
Mr Tausz – whose father worked as an engineer on Inga 1 in 1972 – also says a lack of financial commitment from the Congolese government has contributed to the delay.
And there is also the question of financing. In September 2023, the president dr. Konga told reporters that the country “still faces difficulties in mobilizing investment” for the dam.
The recent withdrawal of China’s Three Gorges Corporation reinforces these difficulties. Tri Gorges was the main partner, bringing money and expertise to the complex project.
According to a BBC source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the three skaters withdrew as they were frustrated with the way President Dr. Konga Tshisekedi managed the project.
There was no official confirmation of the draw.
But are these problems unique to the Grand Inga Dam? Not really, says Professor George Aggidis, an expert on hydropower plants at the UK’s Lancaster University.
He says years of delays and numerous changes of partners are “normal” for a major infrastructure project like the Inga Dam.
It points to Great Britain The Mersey Tidal Project – which, if successful, would be the world’s largest tidal barrier. The idea was first floated in 1984 and abandoned, then revived in the decades since.
“Does that mean we’re unstable here in the UK?” Mr. Aggidis asks. He describes the Inga project as “feasible”.
A similar sentiment is shared by Alexander Schwab, CEO of Andritz, the Austrian company signed on to supply equipment for Inga 3.
Mr Schwab says Andritz has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Congolese authorities, but has not received any word on the project since 2021.
He appears to be largely outlawed by the lack of communication, saying that one of the three major infrastructure projects will “stall” somewhere.
For Mr. Schwab, Grand Inga is “one of the best mega projects … in the world.”
But despite its potential, there are deep concerns about the project’s environmental and social impact.
A common criticism is that the dam will benefit South African consumers and mining companies. Congo, but not Congolese. About 80% of the population lacks access to electricity.
“Inga will not bring electricity to the people,” says Emmanuel Musuyu, head of the Congolese Civil Society Coalition of CORAP. He claims most of the electricity has already been promised to South Africa and the mines.
In a recent report on Inga 3, DR Congo authorities acknowledged that the dam “alone is not sufficient to address the DRC’s energy and development challenges,” but said it could act as a “catalyst” for national change.
The World Bank said it is exploring how it can support the government to ensure Inga “delivers broad benefits for energy access”.
Environmental and rights groups also worry that roughly 37,000 Inhabitants of the Inga area will be displaced without compensation. According to organizations like International Rivers and the Observatori del Deute en la Globalitzación, thousands were forcibly removed from their homes and never compensated when Inga I and II were built.
They also say the first two dams damaged the region’s biodiversity and any additional dams are likely to do the same.
“It will have a specific impact on the fish and all the animals in the water … When you change the flow of water in the rivers, we can see some species of fish disappear,” says Mr Musuyu.
Study from 2018 claimed that many large hydroelectric plants in Europe and the USA were disastrous for the environment.
The authorities of dr. Congo acknowledged that Inga III would displace people, but said residents would move to areas with basic services and promised “fair compensation”.
They also recognized the risks to the local environment and said an assessment aimed at reducing that impact would be completed within the next two years. However, according to a BBC source close to the project, the authorities have not yet raised enough money to finance these studies.
If Grand Inga is simply experiencing the ups and downs that come with major infrastructure projects, the World Bank may still have reason for optimism.
But a dam is a complex engineering project—one that requires its many stakeholders to work together in harmony.
The World Bank returning, only for three gorges to leave, suggests that Dr. Congo struggles to maintain such unity.
And despite the ambition of dr. Congo, construction cannot begin if financing is not secured.
So for now, it seems like this project that has the potential to change the lives of millions of people in Africa remains just that – a big vision.
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