Tshisekedi opened the Pan-African Conference on The Grand Inga Project | DRC
“Energy is the cornerstone of every human society. It is the passport of economic transformation and one of the pillars of education and health services. We can’t say it enough, access to electricity is at the heart of all our economic, social and environmental issues because no development is possible without energy,” said the Congolese head of state, Félix Antoine Tshisekedi.
He explained that the exploitation of the hydroelectric potential of the Inga site represents an opportunity for the DRC to increase access to electricity for the rural and urban population, and to provide cheap sustainable energy for the industrial development of the country and across Africa.
Félix Tshisekedi also indicated that this is a vital initiative in terms of strengthening regional integration following the signing of the agreement on the African Continental Free Trade Area (FTACA). For him, it is clear that Africa’s manufacturing sector will need access to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy that will facilitate the added value of African raw products.
Thus, he added, “the conference is intended to garner regional political support for THE DRC’s hydropower projects, particularly the Grand Inga project, which is seen as an important anchor for solving electricity shortages in Africa, providing green energy for the African continental electricity market.
The meeting will culminate with the presentation of the current and future opportunities of the Grand Inga project and other investment activities in the electrical energy sector in the DRC especially on the Congo River and its tributaries. It will also call for expressions of interest from participants to purchase the energy to be produced during the subsequent phases of the Grand Inga project.
The DRC is home to the largest hydroelectric potential in Africa with more than 110 GW. This is the largest concentration of hydropower potential in the world on a single site, behind China and Russia. Inga Falls is at least 44 GW, about 150 km from the mouth of the Congo River. The country also has more than 60 GW of hydroelectric potential spread over about 800 sites throughout its territory. With this potential, besides meeting its own needs, the DRC can meet a significant deficit of up to 40% – of Africa’s electricity demand at a competitive and sustainable price.
