Cameroon’s Minister of Water Resources and Energy and the Congolese Minister of Energy and Hydraulics signed agreements to this effect on September 25, 2015.

Cameroon’s Minister of Water Resources and Energy, Basile Atangana Kouna and the Minister of Energy and Hydraulics of the Republic of Congo, Henri Ossebi have signed agreements to speed up the project to construct a hydroelectricity dam on the River Dja in the South Region of Cameroon. At the end of a working visit of the Congolese Minister to Cameroon on Friday September 25, 2015, a calendre of activities for the project was adopted.

“In January, we will review the feasibility of our project with the Bank of Central African States,” Ossebi revealed. He explained that this was to ensure that financial resources mobilised by both parties and lodged in an independent account could start funding the operations of the project pending the drafting of pre-feasibility and feasibility studies that will allow for the development of a business plan from where funding partners could be identified. The technical studies will be ready in 18 months beginning January from 2016 after which the project cost estimates will be evaluated before the start of work on the construction site in the next 16-18 months. The management of the project however holds that 2016-2017 will see the end of pre-feasibility studies, 2017-2018 the finalisation of feasility studies and the beginning of construction work on the dam in 2018 once funding is available. The completion of construction is scheduled for 2022.

Milestone Decisions

Three milestone decisions were taken by Basile Atangana Kouna and his Congolese counterpart during the latter’s working visit to Cameroon. The first decision is that which allows for both parties to appoint technical staff: directors, deputy directors and teams that will run the hydroelectricity dam project until its inauguration. The governments of the two countries already agreed that Cameroon’s Richard Balla and Congo’s Geoffroy Gankoue-Dzon be Director and Deputy Director of the project respectively. The personnel of the project will be appointed by both parties whereas experts will be recruited through an open tender. The second decision enjoins the two countries to mobilise resources from their respective budgets for the drafting of the project’s terms of reference. The third resolution endorsed the programme of activities with focus on the announcement by the National Electricity Company of Congo of the availability of a building to host the headoffice of the project in Brazzaville Congo.

Chollet Hydro Dam In Brief

The Chollet Hydroelectricity Dam project was initiated by Presidents Paul Biya and Denis Sassou Nguesso way back in 2010. The dam is located on the border of Congo and Cameroon in the South Regions. It will be constructed on the River Dja. The capacity is expected to be about 600 megawatts and the project will also see the construction of transmission lines from Chollet to Brazzaville and Yaounde for example.