The Egyptian consortium reports to have completed the construction of the main body for the Nyerere Hydroelectric Dam along Rufiji River.
The Consortium, made of Arab Contractors and El-Sewedy Electric reported to the Egyptian Cabinet of Ministers that much of the work for East Africa’s largest dam is finished.
Official reports about accomplished the construction of the main body of Julius Nyerere Dam at Rufiji River was tabled by Egypt’s Ministry of Housing announced in a report that the cabinet shared on Friday.
Various Egyptian News outlets are now carrying the big story.
The Egyptian consortium says it has completed the casting the last cube of reinforced concrete in the body of the main dam in Tanzania.
The construction of the main dam took over 687 days since the diversion of the river on November 18, 2020, as officials of the Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (TANESCO) looked on.
According to the report from Egypt, the consortium is currently making preparations to retain the water of the Rufiji River behind the dam.
The process is expected to take around two months based on estimations of the flood this year.
These preparations include the installation and testing of water gates on three levels in the body of the dam, the report explained.
Water gates will maintain a minimum water level in the river below the dam and discharge excess water in cases of floods and other emergencies, the report added.
The construction of the dam, which is 131 meters high and 1,025 meters long at the summit, was completed 687 days after the diversion of the river in November 2020, according to the report.
The consortium added it is set to close the diversion tunnel to start filling the lake behind the dam, which has an area of about 158,000 square kilometers.
More than 2,500 Egyptian and Tanzanian engineers and workers participated in the construction in the dam, putting in a total of 22 million working hours, Egypt’s Minister of Housing Assam El-Gazzar revealed.
Meanwhile, Ahmed El-Sewedy, the CEO managing director of El-Sewedy Electric, explained that the USD 2.9 billion contract to build the Julius Nyerere Hydropower Station is the largest contract for Egyptian companies in Africa to date.
The project was fully financed by the Tanzanian government, explained El-Sewedy.
This power station, which will be the largest in the east African country, has a capacity to generate 2,115 megawatts, which will be transmitted through 400 kilovolt lines to a substation that integrates it into the national electricity grid.
El-Sewedy said the dam aims is to strengthen the Tanzanian economy by generating power to supply various industries, creating jobs and furthering other development goals.
It is expected to solve the country’s electricity shortages problem by securing clean power to more than 60 million Tanzanians, he said.