The Tanzanian presidency is hosting on Wednesday the signing ceremony of the Stiegler’s Gorge dam project in Tanzania between Tanzanian President John Magufuli and Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly on behalf of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
The owner of the project is the Tanzanian Ministry of Energy, while Arab Contractors and Elsewedy Electric are constructing the project.
The power station would be located across the Rufiji River in the Stiegler’s Gorge of the Selous Game Reserve in the Morogoro region, which lies 220 kilometers southwest of Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital and largest city of Tanzania.
The project aims at generating electricity of 2,115 MW to provide energy needs in Tanzania, as well as controlling water levels during flood periods and thus providing the water needs of the Tanzanian state.
Construction on the project is scheduled to take 36 months to complete, Tanzanian “Daily News” reported last month.
The 134-meter dam will have the storage capacity of 34 million cubic meters of water. The reservoir will be 100-kilometer long and 1,350 square kilometers in area, while the earth embankment will be 3.7 million cubic meters.
The powerhouse will be above-ground and consist of nine vertical Francis turbines with capacity ranging from 200 MW to 300 MW each, and power generators with a capacity of 1,200 MW each.
Power transformers of 235-353 MVA each and having combined capacity of 2,470 MVA will be installed. The plant will also include a 400 kV switch yard.
Additional infrastructure will include electric switch gears, protection system and fire detection system, along with auxiliary power supply, DC systems, cooling and sewage systems.
Construction of the 10-kilometer internal roads, 15-kilometer long residential roads, 350 permanent houses and 3,000 secondary houses is also part of the project.
The construction work in the dam will last three years, starting in January and will conclude in 2022. The project will cost $2.9 billion and employ about 5,000 people.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
