Centre Region: Work on Kikok-Mbebe hydropower dam to begin soon.

The project that has been on the drawing board of the Kikok-Mbebe Hydropower Company, KHPC, and Electricity De France, EDF, since September 2023, is expected to generate some 500 Mega Watts of electricity to add to the national grid.

According to a joint communique from the partners, the bids are divided into separate compartments involving engineering, procurement, and construction of a plant, located some 60 kilometers northwest of Yaounde.

The Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of KHPC, Christophe Avognon, is said to have stated that bidding companies or consortia need to specify the construction segment they aspire to engage in.

The officials say the Kikot-Mbebe hydropower plant, located on the Sanaga River, is set to become one of the largest in the country with its installed capacity of 500 MW. 

The project segments involve constructing a dam nearly 1,200 meters long and a hydroelectric plant equipped with six Kaplan turbines, each with a capacity of 83.3 MW, allowing for a drop height of about 35 meters. Construction is planned to start in 2025, with commissioning expected in 2030, according to EDC.

The pre-qualification process, officials said, will include three main contracts on civil engineering. 

This will primarily cover civil works and hydromechanical equipment for the dam and plant with their metal structures; electromechanical, involving electromechanical works and equipment for the hydroelectric plant as well as secondary civil works for the plant.

Officials also talked of the line and substation, covering the energy evacuation line, evacuation substation, and plant-substation connections as being within the specification of the contract.

Interested companies, the tender shows, submit their applications on or before September 6, 2024, including a signed official letter and compliance with the instructions specified in the call for expressions of interest. The pre-qualification process is expected to begin in the early fourth quarter of this year.

The project is estimated to cost over 1 billion Euros; whose equivalence in local currency is put at some 650 billion FCFA. 

One of the key financiers is the World Bank, particularly through its financing arm, the International Finance Corporation, IFC.

The construction will also include a 400 kV high-voltage line to transmit energy to Boumnyebel, integrating the Southern Interconnected Network, RIS, which covers seven of Cameroon's ten regions, officials stated. 

The EDF Director for Africa, Middle East, and Eastern Mediterranean, Valerie Levkov, is quoted as having said the Kikot-Mbebe dam "will become the largest low-carbon infrastructure ever built in the Central African sub-region". 

The Kikot-Mbebe Hydro Power Company was created on September 25, 2023, to be managed by the State of Cameroon, represented by the EDC and Electricity of France, EDF.

Present in Cameroon since 2014, observers say EDF is supporting the country in reaching its commitments to meet the challenge of the energy transition. 

After Nachtigal, the Kikot-Mbebe dam is expected to provide Cameroon with sufficient, reliable and renewable electricity.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue N0:3198 of Tuesday August 13, 2024