Batoka Hydro-power Project Commencement has been set at the first quarter of the year 2025. The project developers of the US$4.5 billion Batoka Gorge Hydropower Project (BGHP) in Zimbabwe have recently mentioned that they are expecting to kick off the actual construction works of the dam in the first quarter of the coming year once the optimization studies that are currently underway are completed.
Setting up of new human settlements that will be part of the new Batoka City will also commence in the coming year on both sides of the Zambezi River. The Batoka Gorge Hydropower Project is among the mega projects in Zimbabwe and the completion of this mega project is expected to boost the availability of electricity in the whole region.
The two countries i.e. Zambia and Zimbabwe are currently implementing the mega hydro-power project at the gorge along the great Zambezi River where there will be an installation of two 1.2GW power plants on both sides of the river. There will also be a sub-station, a transmission, a brand new settlement scheme and also a road infrastructure will be constructed in the region surrounding.
The BGHP will be implemented through the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) body which was formed by the two countries in order to control and manage the water projects in the Zambezi River region. However, the project of building this mega dam was delayed because of some challenges. In a meeting that was held in the month of December last year, the Council of Ministers gave an order to ZRA to move with great haste so as to ensure that the actual construction works of the dam kick off in the first quarter of the year 2025.
The delegates paid a visit to the wall of the dam which is located about 47km downstream of the Great Victoria Falls on Thursday which is part of the program to appreciate this mega project. In a statement that was made onsite ZRA, the CEO Engineer Munyaradzi Munodawafa stated that they have currently assigned a technical advisor who is currently on the ground working to ensure the optimization of the feasibility studies of the dam while the access road (13km) that leads to the site all the way from Jambezi Road had been fully rehabilitated.
Cost of the Project
The construction cost of the dam is broken down as follows:
- Dam wall- US$1.4 billion
- Power station- US$1.3 billion
- Other aspects- US$1.8 billion
Total cost; US$4.5 billion.
“It has indeed taken quite some time since we came up with the studies in the year 2019 and there is urgent need to optimize them and we already have a technical advisor in place who is currently working on the optimization process,” stated Engineer Munyaradzi.
Capacity of the Project
As for now, the optimization works are working on verifying whether a capacity of 2.4GW is still deemed to be viable. Also the optimization works will consider the viability of the project and any other possible changes that may arise because of possible changes before the Batoka Hydro-Power Project Commencement.
The optimization process is expected to be completed by the month of August this year. It is also expected by the end of the month of November that they will seek a developer in order to enable them meet the target set by the Council of Ministers that required them to start building the dam by the first quarter of the year 2025.
Significance of the Batoka Hydro-power Project Commencement
This project is significant in that it will boost the power generation capacity between the two countries. The significance of the current ongoing optimization works are to convince quite a number of stake holders like UNESCO that this upcoming mega dam project will not be a disaster to the environment.
Quite a number of concerns have been raised about the white water rafting, the displacing of people, and the falcons found on the gorges but the developers of the dam have confirmrd that none will be affected.
Entities like the African Development Bank are also in support of the Batoka Hydro-Power Project Commencement.
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