New Dam to Power Sudan From Next Year

Sudan's Merowe Dam will start generating power next year, and will eventually increase the vast African nation's electricity supply by 150 percent, officials said on Tuesday.

"In our aspiration to solve Sudan's problems, we realized that one of the biggest problems we faced was power," Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said after touring the site.

After signing a peace deal with southern rebels in 2005 ending more than two decades of conflict, the government has more cash for development and has encouraged local and foreign investors to set up shop.

Khartoum has received most of the investment but even the rich capital faces electricity problems, especially in the hot summers. Few towns outside the capital enjoy regular power supplies.

Sudan moved tens of thousands of people - in certain cases by force -- from villages in the vicinity of the dam, 350 kilometres north of the capital Khartoum, saying it was a national necessity.

"Many industries in Khartoum, Port Sudan and the major industrial areas virtually came to a standstill because of intermittent power supply," said Bashir.

"Besides, the amount of power currently being generated meets only a fraction of the requirements of the Sudanese people," he added.

Immediate beneficiaries will include farmers in northern Sudan who use diesel-fuelled pumps to irrigate their crops, according to Ahmed.

CHINESE AND FRENCH

Once completed, the $2 billion dam project that employs some 5,000 people, half of them foreigners, is expected to produce 1,250 megawatts of electricity.

"It's about one and a half times what is available now," Tag Elsir Ahmed, chairman of the High Technical Committee for Merowe Dam, told Reuters.

Involved in the project, are Chinese, French and German companies, with the bulk of the funds coming from Arab countries such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman in the form of soft loans and grants.

A Chinese consortium CCMD is carrying out the bulk of the work on the dam structure and French industrial group Alstom won a contract to supply its equipment.

The dam has a total length of 9 kilometers and 10 units, each with an output of 125 mega watts.

But only two will be operational next year, which officials said would ease the pressure on existing sources of energy.

"That means 250 megawatts will be available for the system and it will be connected to the national grid," said Ahmed.

He added that "the other eight units will come in sequence until sometime in 2009."

One serious challenge builders faced was diverting the flow of the Nile, which was done twice -- to the left and then to the right -- to enable construction.

"From now on the river will only pass through the spillways and the power station," said Ahmed.