Egyptian minister follows up on construction of Tanzanian dam

CAIRO – 1 June 2020: Minister of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Communities Assem al-Gazar held a meeting to follow up on the construction of Tanzania's Rufiji Dam and Julius Nyerere Hydropower Plant executed by a coalition of Arab Contractors and El Sewedi Electric.

The plant aims to produce electricity power with a capacity of 2,115 megawatts and is being implemented at a cost of $2.9 billion. The amount of electricity produced per annum will be 6,307 megawatts/hour. The capacity of the transmission lines connecting the plant to a regular power plant is 400 kilovolts.

Four dams will be constructed in addition to the main dam in order to form the reservoir. Also, 2 temporary dams located in front of and behind the main dam will be in place to redirect Rufiji River while the main dam is being built. There will be two siphons for surplus water. One of them is for emergencies.

The project includes a tunnel extending on 703 meters to redirect the river, and 3 other tunnels transmitting water to the hydropower plant. That's in addition to the introduction of a permanent bridge and two temporary bridges over the river as well as permanent and temporary roads in the area.

The under-construction dam is 1,025 meters in length, and 134 meters in height, with a storage capacity of about 34 billion cubic meters. The project is expected to benefit 17 million Tanzanian families.

In November, an Egyptian team, headed by Chief of the Central Agency for Reconstruction Mahmoud Nassar, visited Tanzania to follow up on the construction works of the project.

On July 8, 2019, Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli received his Tanzanian counterpart Kassem Majalwaon to discuss ways of joint cooperation between the two countries. According to the statement issued by the Cabinet, the meeting also discussed possibilities of strengthening cooperation in the fields of agriculture, food processing, livestock, energy and medicine.

The volume of trade exchange between Egypt and Tanzania witnessed a remarkable development during 2018, reaching $47.19 million compared to $25.41 million in 2017. The trade balance between the two countries is in favor of Egypt at $37.28 million.