The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is set to resume talks with its  on the possibilities of the recommencement of the implementation of the stalled Katende dam & hydroelectric project in the province of Kasaï-Central, in the Central African country.

This was revealed by , the DRC’s Minister of Hydraulic Resources and Electricity after visiting the site of the project and seeing the state of the equipment installed before the construction works came to a standstill approximately 4 years ago.

Minister Muhanzi observed that the existing state of affairs is hampering the development of electricity infrastructure in the towns of Kananga, Mbuji-Mayi, and Tshimbulu, which were to benefit from the project upon its completion.

About the project

The Katende dam is being built on the right bank of the Lulua River, a sub-tributary of the Congo River. According to the DRC government, the construction works were already 55% complete for the civil engineering part of the project before it came to halt.

However, over the course of the four years that the contractor has not been on the site according to minister Muhanzi, the construction machinery among other installments has been dismantled.

“We only have about 25% left in terms of equipment and 40 or 35% for the civil engineering works,” explained the DRC’s Minister of Hydraulic Resources and Electricity.

He also noted that the government has acquired approximately 75% of the power station’s electrical equipment in preparation for the resumption of the construction works.

Auxiliary works

In addition to the construction of the Katende dam & hydroelectric power station which has a proposed capacity of 64 MW, the project also includes the installation of several transmission lines.

The first line will link Kananga to Mbuji-Mayi, the capital of the province of Kasaï-Oriental through the territory of Tshimbulu, a distance of about 130 km.

A second line, approximately 30 km long, will start from Kananga and run to Bunkonde, a locality in the territory of Dibaya, in the province of Kasaï-Central.