In a statement issued on 25 July 2016, the World Bank has suspended funding to help develop Inga 3 dam, a $14 billion hydropower project in the DRC, due to disagreement with the Congolese government over the project’s implementation.
The Bank’s statement justifies the suspension on the fact that the Congolese government decided “to take the project in a different strategic direction to that agreed between the World Bank and the government in 2014”.
The World Bank agreed to $73 million in technical assistance for the first phase of the $100 billion Grand Inga hydropower project which would produce 44,000 megawatts. Inga 3 alone would produce at least 4,800 megawatts, almost double DRC’s current installed capacity.
Only 6 % of these funds had been disbursed before the decision to pull its support, the World Bank said. However, the Bretton Woods institution vowed to “be in a continuing dialogue with the Government about the implementation arrangements of the project, with the goal of ensuring that it follows international good practice”.
The two ventures which are still in the running to build the project are China Three Gorges Corp. in partnership with Sinohydro Corp., and Madrid-based Actividades de Construccion y Servicios SA with Spain’s Eurofinsa SA. The government has said it expects to receive final bids by the end of this month and will select a developer by September.