As of 2023, 43 percent of Africa’s population – about 600 million people – lacks access to electricity. If no action is taken, this percentage may worsen over the next few decades, as the continent’s population is forecast to grow, by 2050, to at least 2.4 billion and to continue to rise to 4.2 billion, four times its current size, over the next century, according to the African Development Bank Group.
A growing population equals more needs to be met by governments. Therefore, the proposed hydroelectric dam at Inga Falls on the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo forms part of Africa’s big plan to build key infrastructures to support its fast-growing population.
According to plans for the Grand Inga Dam, the infrastructure will be created 93 miles upstream from where the river empties into the Atlantic Ocean and 140 miles southwest of Kinshasa, the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is the same site where the 351 MW Inga 1 Hydropower Station and the 1,424 MW Inga 2 Hydropower Station, more commonly known as Inga Dams, were launched in 1972 and 1982 respectively.
The series of seven proposed power stations is expected to divert the Congo River from the above waterfalls into the north of the valley to create a huge reservoir.
Slated to have an average output of 39,000MW annually, the proposed dam is set to produce twice as much electricity as the Three Gorges Dam in China currently does, according to Construction Kenya. This African dam is expected to become the biggest construction project in Africa by far, according to the plans. The dam will also become the world’s largest hydropower scheme when completed.
The venture is projected to come with a hefty price tag of around $100 billion – equivalent to £78 billion – which includes the cost of transmission lines essential for distributing power across the continent. A similar feat will be done via one of the world’s longest transmission lines, which will need to pass through Angola, Namibia and Botswana to reach the South African economic heartland in the Gauteng province, according to the project.
The newest phase of the Inga dams was expected to begin in December 2016. However, the World Bank retracted its financial support in July of that year due to disputes with the DRC government
The dam doesn’t come without controversy. International Rivers – an environmental lobby group – claimed in 2018 that 10,000 people would be displaced to build this massive infrastructure, and that it was “overpriced and susceptible to corruption”.
In July 2023, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa pledged his country’s support to reviving Inga 3. The country has been battling power shortages that have been eroding its GDP growth.
The benefits of the new dam could be extensive: South Africa would benefit from a major new source of green power, while the DRC could use it to generate export revenues and position itself as a leader in regional efforts to mitigate climate change.
Other major projects underway in Africa to cater for its burgeoning population include Egypt’s yet-to-be-named new capital city, situated approximately 28 miles east of Cairo, which will feature a park twice the size of New York City’s Central Park. Additionally, the 870-mile Lagos-Calabar railway is set to be constructed at a cost of £7.8 billion.
