Dr. President John Pombe Magufuli, President of the United Republic of Tanzania, a large number of senior Tanzanian officials, Dr. Mohamed Shaker, Egypt’s Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, and the Ambassador of Egypt to Tanzania attended ceremony of laying the founding stone of a hydroelectric dam project in the Rufiji basin.
An Egyptian consortium comprising of the Arab Contractors and El Sewedy companies have won the contract of building the dam worth $ 2.9 billion.
In his speech, the Tanzanian president praised the relations between Egypt and Tanzania and the efforts made by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to strengthen bilateral relations. The relations have recently seen great development.
He added the project is a dream for the Tanzanian people to get clean energy.
The project will also contribute to preservation of the environment, create jobs for the Tanzanians and put the country on the path of development in terms of the establishment of factories and the various activities that depend on energy.
It is worth to mention that Tanzania loses daily 400 hectares of forest to get charcoal.
The dam will be constructed on a plot of land doesn’t reach 2% of acreage on the Selous World Heritage site
In his speech, Dr. Shaker conveyed greetings of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to his Tanzanian counterpart and all officials.
The minister pointed out that the Rufiji River Dam project will become a sign of cooperation between the two countries in the field of energy, affirming that President El Sisi has instructed concerned officials for continuous follow-up of the project.
The minister said that the project will generate energy, which in turn will contribute to the achievement of the United Nations targets of sustainable development, in addition to the implementation of the Renewable Energy Initiative in Africa.
He explained that Egypt would stand by Tanzania hand in hand through the transfer of technology and experience.
The Egyptian Ministry of Electricity will offer 50 training scholarships for Tanzanians in its training centers.
On the other hand, Eng. Mohsen Salah, President of the Arab Contractors Company, said that this giant project comes within the framework of supporting and strengthening the Egyptian-Tanzanian relations.
He revealed that the project is a unique model during the era of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, who works hard to strengthen Egypt's position in the African continent, adding that this project will be implemented by Egyptian-Tanzanian hands.
Salah said that construction of the facility would involve building a main dam and appurtenant structures, with expected reservoir length of 100 km, covering an area of about 1,350 square km. The dam height is about 134 meters.
The five major elements of the project include the dam body, the powerhouse, the water persion tunnel, the energy distribution sites, the permanent bridge connecting the two sides of the project as well as the construction of two quarries on both sides of the project and a small village for the project workers.
He added that this project requires 2.4 million cubic meters of reinforced concrete, 1.7 million cubic meters of Roller Compacted Concrete with 67500 tons of reinforcing steel along with total of 6.5 million cubic meters of drilling and embankment; the amount of rock barriers estimated at 3 million cubic meters of rock.
The President of the Arab Contractors confirmed that 20% of the planned housing camps have been carried out, including a temporary camp. The surveying works for the entire project area have also been completed.
Examinations of the soil layers have been completed throughout the project with a total of 223 exploration wells. Construction of the temporary offices of the engineers were completed as well, in addition to a concrete plant and a crusher for the required materials to meet the needs of the project.
The project is one of the most important national and development projects in Tanzania, in view of the expected persification of energy sources in the country. It will overcome energy problems and control water flow throughout the year, including flood periods.
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