- Rusumo hydro plant to supply power to Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania.
The Council of Ministers from Rwanda, Tanzania, and Burundi has disclosed that the Rusumo Hydro Power station will soon supply electricity to three partner states by early November this year. The project’s original completion date was 2021, but governments extended it because Covid-19 produced a budget shortfall.
Officials are hopeful that the project will be finished by the end of 2022 so that the people of both countries can begin to benefit from the energy supply.
Yusuf Makamba, Tanzanian Minister of Energy, said the council of ministers would do all possible to ensure the project is implemented on the expected timeline.
“The first set of three unit transformers is expected to be complete by November and complete by next year,” he said.
The three governments received a US$468 million grant from various partners, including the World Bank and African Development Bank, to finance the project. Still, the audit conducted by the countries’ auditor offices estimated that the project delivery seemed unrealistic with doubts about completion time and deficiencies because the initial cost was anticipated to increase.
The project is being developed for Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania by the NELSAP program, which the World Bank supports. The project comprises a 460-meter-long Headrace tunnel, a concrete dam with a 150-meter-long crest, and a surface power plant with three 30 MW Kaplan turbines. By 2024, Rwanda hopes to have 100% of its population electrified.