Three categories of agreements were signed by the stakeholders of the construction project of the Ruzizi 3 hydropower plant, this Monday, July 29, 2019 in Kinshasa. First between Burundi, DRC and Rwanda. Then, between the consortium of private partners responsible for developing the project. Finally, between the buyers of the electricity that will be produced and the project company constituted by the three states.

It is a total of 20 texts, prepared and negotiated by the experts from Burundi, Rwanda and the DRC, with the assistance of the specialized cabinets that accompanied them with the support of the donors, who were in turn signed by the delegates of each party.

According to the Minister of State in charge of the Budget acting the Minister of Energy and Water Resources of the DRC, Pierre Kangudia, these are respectively the Tripartite Agreement of the States and its annex on the security of the project area; the shareholder agreement; the project implementation agreement and its annexes on guarantees and other authorizations; the mandate agreement; a common agreement for the purchase of electricity; special power purchase agreements commonly referred to as PPPs; and technical annexes to the common agreement for the purchase of electricity.

« With its 147 megawatts of installed capacity, the Ruzizi 3 power plant will undoubtedly mark the living conditions of the population by increasing the production of electricity and, consequently, the productivity of the working masses. the preservation of the environment. It should be noted that this power will reach more or less 200 MW when the additional studies will be finalized in the months that follow, « said Pierre Kangudia.

This signing of agreements thus shields a long process of negotiations and lays the foundations for the relations that will govern the three States Parties and the consortium IPS – SN Power which has been given the mission to make the development and the exploitation of a Ruzizi hydroelectric power station 3.

As a reminder, the launching of the technical studies for this innovative, ambitious and hopeful project in the sub-region took place in 2008. They were carried out jointly by the European Union and the European Investment Bank through the EU-Africa trust fund for infrastructure for a total amount of € 7 million.

They were succeeded in 2012 by an additional 3.5 million euros which was used for the selection of the private investor and the negotiation of current agreements with the support of funds from AFD, KFW and the AfDB.

After this stage of signing agreements, the next will be in 2021 for the laying of the foundation stone of the works that will be completed five years later, in 2026. The contribution of all the donors combined to this project amounts to 400 millions of euros deductible from the overall project envelope costing US $ 629 million.

Eric TSHIKUMA