The World Bank has confirmed that its Executive Board will meet this month to consider a proposed grant of US$73M for the 4800MW Inga 3 dam project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In a statement, World Bank spokesman David Theis said an updated proposal for the project funding was submitted to the Board on 5 March and this will be discussed on 20 March, just over a month later than originally expected.
"The updated project documentation presents a unified World Bank Group approach to support the government of DRC in developing Inga 3-BC through a flexible government-led, transparent process," said Theis, commenting that the project has the potential to improve the lives of millions of Africans in the DRC and elsewhere in Africa with affordable clean energy.
Inga 3 is the first part of the 40,000MW Grand Inga project on the Congo River. The project is due to be built in two phases. The first, expected to start construction in 2015, is the Inga 3 Low-Head project, which will not involve damming the river. Construction work here is expected to cost US$8.5B. The second phase – Inga 3 High-Head – will involve construction of a dam and will add 3000MW of capacity. Following these, a further five plants will be installed take the Grand Inga project capacity to 40,000 MW.
