(Ecofin Agency) - Zambia and Zimbabwe appointed the African Developement Bank (AfDB) main coordinator of funds mobilization process for the construction of the Batoka Gorge hydropower dam. The institution also reiterated its commitment regarding the development of the project in which it, up till now, acted as main financial adviser.

With a capacity of 2,400 MW, the dam will cost $6 billion. Its construction will begin by the end of the year or in 2018, after the funds are secured. The two nations had organized at the end of March a conference with investors to get them to take part to the project. The project will give rise to 6,000 indirect jobs and 1,200 permanent jobs for the infrastructure’s operation.

The coordination of the fund-securing process by AfDB falls in the framework of its New Deal on Energy for Africa programme which aims to raise $45 to $50 million in private investment for Africa’s energy sector, by 2025. However, the institution, which will personally invest $12 billion in the project, hopes to develop across the continent 160 GW of power infrastructures.

Gwladys Johnson