Africa-Press – Angola. The Minister of Energy and Water, João Baptista Borges, announced, Tuesday, in Malanje, that the signing of the bilateral agreement between Angola and Namibia for the start of construction of the Baynes Hydroelectric Plant (AHB) will be initialed in September this year.
João Baptista Borges gave this guarantee at the end of a meeting with his Namibian counterpart, Tom Allweendo, which took place at the Laúca Hydroelectric Plant, in the municipality of Cacuso.
According to the minister, the bilateral agreement will be initialed by the Heads of State of the two countries, sealing the mutual commitment to execute the aforementioned project, which he considered vital to extend the electricity network and promote energy exchanges not only between Angola and Namibia, but also with other SADC countries, including South Africa and Botswana, with which Namibia is already interconnected.
The aforementioned meeting will be preceded by another between the Ministry of Energy and Water of Angola and that of Mines and Energy of the Republic of Namibia.
João Baptista Borges pointed out that, at the meeting, the public financing model was approved, but it must still be submitted for consideration by the Heads of State.
“If it is public financing, we will have one year to mobilize sources of financing under favorable conditions to carry out this work as quickly as possible, given that 16 years have passed since the two States took such an initiative to build the project”, he added..
Regarding the value of the project, he said that the initially agreed estimate of one billion 375 million US dollars remains, noting that the final cost will depend on the result of the public tender to hire the executing company.
The expenses will be shared by both countries, as each will benefit from around half of the capacity to be produced.
The official explained that the meeting decided to urgently conclude the environmental impact study, at a time when Angola Angola has already taken the decision to complete the road that will connect Porto do Namibe to the town of Baynes, passing through the Yona, a fundamental section for the project start-up.
In turn, the Minister of Mines and Energy of the Republic of Namibia, Tom Allweendo, reaffirmed that the implementation of Baynes will allow the network to be extended to the SADC market and boost the economic and industrial development of countries in the region.
He stressed that, given the current price of electricity, both sides found it viable to finance the project with public rather than private funds.
The bilateral meeting between the Ministers of Energy and Water of Angola and the Minister of Mines and Energy of the Republic of Namibia aimed to analyze the environmental, technical and economic feasibility study of the Baynes project, implementation model and community resettlement plan.
The meeting culminated in the signing of a pre-implementation agreement.
History of the Baynes Hydroelectric Project
The binational Baynes Dam will be built on the Cunene River, on the international border with the Republic of Namibia, approximately 48 kilometers downstream of the Epupa Falls, 200 kilometers from Ruacaná, where the river crosses the Baynes Gorge.
The project will consist of a roller-compacted concrete dam, with a height of 200 meters, a crown length of 25 meters, a reservoir length of 40 kilometers and a flooded area of 58.15 square kilometers at a full storage level.
The main dam’s generation plant will have a power of 860 MW, with 4 units of 215 MW, 430 MW for Angola and 430 MW for Namibia, ensuring the integration of AHE Baynes into the national energy networks of the respective countries, through of the Angola/Namibia regional integration network (ANNA).
A regulation dam is planned, where a power plant will be installed with 3 units of 7 MW each, totaling 21 MW of power, as well as a flood area (“footprint” of the reservoir), extending for approximately 6 kilometers to amount.
The dam wall will be used simultaneously as a road crossing connecting the western road corridor of Angola and Namibia.
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