The African Development Bank (AfDB) has reaffirmed its support to the 2400MW Batoka Gorge hydroelectric scheme and confirmed it will be the lead financier for the project.
AfDB’s Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth Sector Complex, Amadou Hott, pledged the support during an investors conference for the project in Zambia recently – an event attended by Zambia’s Vice President and four ministers from Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Batoka Gorge is being constructed by the Zambezi River Authority, an organization equitably owned by the governments of Zambia and Zimbabwe, to develop, operate, monitor and maintain hydropower projects along the Zambezi River shared by the two Southern African countries.
“The Bank has been working together with Zambia and Zimbabwe on major energy projects such as the transformative Itezhi Power Generation and Transmission Project, and rehabilitation of power infrastructure in Zimbabwe, among others. The Batoka Scheme is in line with the objectives of AfDB’s New Deal on Energy for Africa,” commented Hott, adding that the target for the New Deal for universal access to energy by 2025 requires the implementation of transformative regional projects such as Batoka.
The governments of Zambia and Zimbabwe have appointed the Bank as Lead Coordinator for the project, to be implemented in partnership with other development partners.
