African Development Bank provides $113m to Regional Rusumo Falls Hydropower
The African Development Bank Group (AFDB) is to provide $113m in financing to the 80MW Regional Rusumo Falls Hydropower project on the border between Rwanda and Tanzania.
AFDB allocated $97.3m from the African Development Fund and the Nigeria Trust Fund for the Rusumo Falls project, which will provide renewable power to Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi.. A further $16m grant from the Sustainable Energy for All arm of the EU-Africa Infrastructure Trust Fund will also help to finance part of the Burundi transmission line connecting the Rusumo Falls Power project to the grid.
Construction of the transmission facilities is scheduled for completion by August 2018.
‘Rusumo Falls is one of many projects financed by the AfDB in response to a crisis in low-energy access rates, limited infrastructure development in the region and regional projects that enhance regional stability through increased cooperation and integration among countries. Africa has incredible untapped hydropower potential: only four per cent of which has been exploited,’ said director of the AfDB’s Energy, Environment and Climate Change Department.
‘Through projects such as the Rusumo Falls project we are looking to leverage Africa’s natural assets for universal access to modern, reliable and affordable energy services on the continent.’
AFDB has been supporting the Rusumo Falls project since 2006, when the African Development Fund provided a grant of $4m to the Nile Basin Initiative to finance the technical, financial, economic, and social feasibility studies.