The World Bank has approved a $250m credit to fund the first phase of what could be the biggest hydroelectric project in the world: Inga 3 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The plan is to add a third generating dam to the Inga Falls on the River Congo.

The money goes to the DRC’s Agency for the Development and Promotion of Grand Inga to fund engineering studies, capacity building and project planning.

This dam will be sited at the point where the Congo makes a rapid descent of 100m.

As the river contains the third largest volume of water of any river, the site could be used to generate an immense amount of energy.

Inga 3 alone could generate up to 11GW.

Only 21% have access to grid

But the technical, economic and political complexity of the project mean that its construction will take around 10 years and will require a whole-of-society effort from the Congolese government and people.

The World Bank comments that if the scheme is successful, it will remove a “roadblock” to the economic and social development of the DRC.

Now, only 21% of its population has access to grid electricity. The DRC’s “National Energy Compact” aims to raise that to 62% by 2030.

Short-circuiting the vicious cycle

Up until now, work on the Grand Inga has been held up by the DRC’s chronic insecurity. In particular, the mineral-rich east has been dogged by conflict for more than 30 years.

Bob Mabiala, head of the Grand Inga agency, said the economic development Inga 3 would bring would lift people out of extreme poverty and help stabilise the country.

The DRC faces a chicken-and-egg problem in which political instability hampers economic development, which in turn fuels political instability. This is demonstrated by the failure of all previous efforts to launch the Inga 3 scheme.

This time, the World Bank hopes to short-circuit this vicious cycle by using the first phase of Inga 3 to improve the living conditions and economic prospects of some 1.2 million people living close to the falls.

Measures will include clean water, distributed renewable energy, rural roads and education so local people can do the jobs the scheme is expected to create.

The location of the Inga 3 showing the “basse-chute” tunnel that the water will flow down