NEWSECONOMY
Why is the rehabilitation of the Mpiana-Mwanga hydropower plant of the Manono lithium project still at a standstill?
August 19, 2023
Kiki Kienge
By
Kiki Kienge
The Piana-Mwanga hydroelectric dam is a 54 megawatt power station commissioned in 1933 under Belgian colonization, to supply electrical energy to the Manono tin mine, today where the project of the Manono lithium mining.
The exploitation of tin and its mine have been dormant since 1982, the Piana-Mwanga hydroelectric power station has not been able to continue its production of electrical energy for lack of financing and maintenance formerly guaranteed by the state operating company of Zaïréétain tin, today COMINIERE.
On January 13, 2020 after joining the DATHCOM joint venture, a joint venture with the Congolese State for the exploitation of lithium, the mining conglomerate AVZ MINERALS Limited, in order to supply electrical energy to the Manono-Kitotolo mine, the one of the largest lithium mines in the DRC, with reserves estimated at 120,000,000 tonnes (132,277,357 tons) of ore.
AVZ POWER SAU (subsidiary of AVZ MINERALS) had concluded an agreement with the Congolese government for the rehabilitation of the hydroelectric power station of Mpiana-Mwanga I and II in order to supply its mining operations, in particular to supply electrical energy to a large part of the population of the territory of Manono.
“We have been working for several months now to secure this opportunity, as we consider the rehabilitation of the Mpiana-Mwanga power plant to be a big step forward for the company,” said Nigel Ferguson, Managing Director of AVZ
MINERALS .
A feasibility study had been authorized by the Congolese government through its Ministry of Hydraulic Resources and Electricity and initiated by the Australians of AVZ POWER, in order to allow the Piana-Mwanga hydroelectric power station, already abandoned, to be able to produce at least 54 megawatts to support its mining and electricity distribution activities in the territory of Manono.
In September 2022 a Coup de theater, the COMINIERE company representing the Congolese State in DATHCOM, decided to change the cards in the rehabilitation project of the Piana-Mwanga hydroelectric power station.
On Saturday November 12, 2022 COMINIERE publicly announced through its delegate in the joint venture,
MUYELA Robert , that it had selected the Chinese group ZIJIN from several proposals through one of its subsidiaries in DR Congo, for the rehabilitation of hydroelectric power plants. of Mpiana-Mwanga within three years and this without condition.
The reason put forward by COMINIERE would be that the Australians of AVZ MINERALS did not respect the laws of the DR Congo, granting themselves through DATHCOMA the plant which is from the Congolese State and not from the joint venture on the Manono project. -lithium.
Recall that in 2020 the contract for the rehabilitation of the plant was signed between DATHCOM and the Congolese Ministry of Hydraulic Resources and Electricity with the blessing of all the partners, in particular the COMINIERE in question, as evidenced by this 2021 document from the ministry signed by the Minister in office.
Here is from this merry-go-round of the leaders of COMINIERE financed by the Chinese group, ZIJIN which has ambitions to completely get its hands on the lithium project of Manono to the detriment of the Australians of AVZ MINERALS, the rehabilitation project of the Mpiana-Mwanga dam remains stationary, thus depriving the entire population of electricity and blocking the development of the province of Tanganyika in general.
Par Kiki Kienge Le barrage hydroélectrique de Piana-Mwanga, est une centrale électrique de 54 mégawatts mise en service en 1933 sous la colonisation Belge, afin de desservir en énergie éclectique…
kongopress.com
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