By the end of this year, one unit of the 80MW Regional Rusumo Hydroelectric Power Project will be operational, an engineer at Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Program (NELSAP) has disclosed. NELSAP is one of the investment programs under the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) with a mandate to facilitate jointly agreed transformative regional trans-boundary cooperative projects or in-country projects with regional impact related to the common use of the Nile Basin water resources. It focuses on hydro-power investment projects and regional power transmission interconnections as well as water resources management and development projects. Alloyce Oduor, the Power Engineer at NELSAP disclosed the progress about Regional Rusumo Hydroelectric Power Project during the 6th Nile Basin Development Forum going on from March 9 to April 29 under the theme: “Rethinking regional investments in the Nile River Basin”. The discussions, last week, focused on “Enhanced collaboration between energy and water planners in the Nile Region”. The project will benefit Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania which are part of the Nile Basin Initiative, an intergovernmental partnership that brings together 10 countries linked to the River Nile and these are; Burundi, DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. The $340 million regional Rusumo Hydropower project will generate power using water from Akagera River that straddle the three countries. Akagera is one of the Nile River sources and it flows into Lake Victoria and then later into the Nile River. “We envisage that by the end of this year, at least one unit will be on. The plant is in the area of Tanzania and switch yard is on Rwandan territory,” said Oduor. “From $340 million funding, Tanzania has got 100 per cent full credit while Burundi has got 100% per cent grant, Rwanda has got 50 per cent grant and 50 per cent credit,” he said. He said that part of the first one interconnection has been completed. “Right now we are working on finally commissioning that link between Uganda and Rwanda. Hopefully this year, it will have been commissioned and bring countries into one synchronous frequency,” he said. This project was supposed to end in February 2020, but there had been challenges according to engineers. The plant is expected to add about 26.6MW to each of the beneficiary States and strengthen the regional power interconnection between the countries. There will be transmission lines for electricity, within 94km from Rusumo to Nyakanazi (Tanzania), 161km to Rwanda, and 194km to Burundi. “ Interconnection of electric grids and creation of power pools will enhance the water and energy nexus with the result of cost effective, reliable and secure supply of energy and above all is a driver for regional integration,” said Eng. Oduor. On Rwandan side, the project again includes rehabilitation of 30 Km of feeder roads in Kirehe District, construction of 28.7 Km of roads in Ngoma District, water pipeline for supplying 10,500 people in Gatonde-Gahima cells, 33 km Gituku-Murama water supply system, construction of 9.54 km of Kigabiro-Rurenge-Gatore feeder road and others. In addition to many executed projects, The Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Program (NELSAP) is also preparing other power projects such as Uganda-DRC Congo interconnection project and Nimule-Juba. Some projects under implementation include Interconnection of Electrical grids of the Nile Equatorial Lakes Countries project in Burundi, DRC, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, Kenya Tanzania power interconnection project, Uganda-DRC power transmission line, Iringa-Mbeya Transmission line, Tanzania-Zambia power interconnection feasibility studies among others. Financing challenges Oduor said that despite achievements by the power sector program under the Nile Basin Initiative there are also challenges of financing and implementing regional power projects in the Nile Equatorial Lakes region. The challenges include lack of political compliance in the eye of development partners, low rating for credit worthiness for sector specific projects (difference in countries), asymmetry in project prioritization between countries sharing a project, Unharmonized policy and regulatory frameworks between the participating countries. The challenges also include different procurement procedures within the countries sharing a project, different financing conditions between development partners, difference in land policies and environmental/social safeguards between participating countries.
