Belgian contractor Besix has released images from its project in Cameroon to build a 1.5-km-long, 420MW hydroelectic dam on the River Sanaga, a rare public-private partnership (PPP) in sub-Saharan Africa.
Besix won the contract for the Nachtigal dam in 2018 with French infrastructure company Nouvelles Générations d’Entrepreneurs (NGE) and Morocco’s Société Général des Travaux de Maroc (SGTM).
The $1.1bn project is scheduled to last 57 months and, when complete, the dam’s seven 60MW turbines will supply 30% of Cameroon’s electricity needs.
The dam is being developed by the Nachtigal Hydro Power Company, a consortium made up of investors including France’s EDF, the State of Cameroon and the International Finance Corporation, a division of the World Bank Group.
The contract involves designing and building a the 14-m-high dam in roller compacted concrete and a 3-km-long supply canal.
Some 74% of Cameroon’s population has access to electricity now, but the cost is high. In 2018 the World Bank said the Nachtigal scheme would save the country $100m a year in generation costs.
