Business & Finance

China builder to construct Togo’s 147-MW Adjarala

Two-nation electric company Communaute Electrique du Benin has commissioned Chinese hydropower construction company SinoHydro to build the 147-MW Adjarala hydroelectric project between Togo and Benin on Africa’s Mono River.

Two-nation electric company Communaute Electrique du Benin (CEB) has commissioned Chinese hydropower construction company SinoHydro to build the 147-MW Adjarala hydroelectric project between Togo and Benin on Africa’s Mono River.

CEB signed a contract with SinoHydro in March for construction of the 282 million euro (US$389 million) project. Also signing the agreement were energy and water ministers of Togo and Benin, which will own the project upon completion.

SinoHydro said work is to be completed in 45 months on Adjarala, which includes a 37-kilometer-long, 40-meter-tall rock and earth dam, a power station, and transmission lines.

The dam is to be built at a site between the mouth of the Mono River and the 65-MW Nangbeto hydroelectric project, 160 kilometers north of the Bight of Benin.

CEB took expressions of interest in February from consultants to evaluate utility staff in anticipation of CEB restructuring and the development of Adjarala. (HydroWorld 1/27/09)

About 80 percent of the electricity consumed in Benin is imported, with the majority of this coming from Ghana’s 1,062-MW Akosombo hydroelectric project. Benin has been preparing to develop Adjarala to improve electricity generation and transmission infrastructure.

Hong Kong based Oriental Asset and Capital Management (OACM) agreed in 2005 to provide 197 billion CFA francs (US$360 million) to finance Adjarala.