Message-ID: <1401609@isis.Reed.EDU>
Date: 11 Jun 96 10:37:33 PDT
From: Chris.Lowe@directory.Reed.EDU (Chris Lowe)
Reply-To: AFRLABOR@acuvax.acu.edu
Subject: SA capital in Congo
To: AFRLABOR@acuvax.acu.edu

South Africans start work on new Congo power dam

Reuters, 11 June 1996

BRAZZAVILLE, Congo, (Reuter) - President Pascal Lisouba has officially marked the start of work on Congo's biggest hydro-electric dam project which is being built with South African capital and expertise.

Lisouba presided over Saturday's ceremony at Sounda, where the project is located deep in the Congolese rain forest on the Kouilou river 60 miles from where it enters the Atlantic Ocean close to the oil port of Pointe-Noire.

The first phase of the Sounda complex is expected to be completed in 14 months when it will produce 240 megawatts of electricity, rising to 1,000 megawatts at full capacity.

Congo, which is strategically placed in the heart of Africa is attractive to South African investors. Afrikaner farmers are looking around here and in neighboring Zaire for farmland.

South African capital and experts last month restored the 15 megawatt Djouea hydro-electric plant near the capital Brazzaville which had been out of commission for five years. It will now reduce Congo's electricity imports from Zaire by 15 percent from 35 percent.