DRC Government Seeks Additional Funding Of Over $188 Million From India To Resume Construction On Katende Hydroelectric Plant
The 82nd meeting of the Council of Ministers, held on January 13, 2023 under the leadership of Head of State Félix Tshisekedi, discussed the progress of the Katende hydroelectric power plant construction.
As per Félix Tshisekedi’s recommendations, Finance Minister Nicolas Kazadi informed the council that Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde Kyenge had a working session on November 24th to establish procedures for the effective relaunch of the Grand Katende Hydroelectric Power Plant project.
This is how, he said, he delegated a project assessment mission from December 8 to 15, 2022 to Katende and Lubumbashi.
“In light of the findings of the report, the Minister of Finance seized on 28th December 2022 through a request for additional financing under a new line of credit from the Government of India for a total value of over USD 188 million for the continuation of the construction project of the Katende hydroelectric power plant.
On this point, it was completed by the Minister of Hydraulic Resources and Electricity who reported the meeting made by the government spokesman Patrick Muyaya.
Under another aspect relating to the partnership between the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of India, the Minister of Finance Nicolas Kazadi recalled that within the framework of South – South cooperation, the two countries concluded in particular between 2005 and 2015 several treaties covering different areas of cooperation. He plans to travel to India in the coming days for in-depth discussions with Exim Bank in light of the report made by the General Directorate of Public Debt which noted the poor performance in the execution of loan agreements.
According to this report, the Minister recalled, the projects of this financial cooperation are unfinished and their results are mixed, with the exception of the Kakobola hydroelectric dam project for which the government has provided additional funding and which should be completed. complete in the first half of 2023.
”Among the factors that have led to this state of affairs in the past, mention should be made of the poor identification of needs and the formulation of projects, the lack of preliminary information on the technical and financial feasibility of this project and the proper use to the competition procedure for the selection of Indian firms called upon to carry out the contracts, despite the existing legal provisions on the award of contracts with external financing”, he lamented in the minutes of the meeting.
The work of the Katende hydroelectric power station should imperatively be relaunched without delay, and completed within a reasonable time, President Tshisekedi recalled during his communication during the 77th meeting of the Council of Ministers which he chaired in November. by videoconference at the city of the African Union.
The Katende power station, located more than 75 kilometers from the city of Kananga, capital of Kasai Central province, and 130 kilometers from that of Mbuji-Mayi, with a capacity of 64 megawatts, is intended to supply electricity, all the provinces of the Grand Kasaï area, in particular the provinces of Kasaï-Central and Kasaï-Oriental.
The operationalization of this plant has always been one of the demands of elected officials and populations of this corner of the
