The governments of Angola and Namibia signed an agreement on Monday to build a dam on the Cunene River basin, the natural border between the two countries, with an investment of $1.51 billion (€1.4 billion).
According to Angola’s minister of energy and water, João Baptista Borges, the agreement signed today in Windhoek, Namibia’s capital, celebrates the realisation of a common vision of the two African states, their leaders and peoples, aimed at common development and regional economic integration.
The construction of the Baynes Hydroelectric Scheme has a planned capacity of 860 MegaWatts (MW) for the main dam and 21MW for the regulating dam.
According to the Angolan minister, who in his speech during the ceremony pointed to the need for work to begin in 2026, the main dam is budgeted at $1.375 billion (€1.3 billion).
“This agreement marks the beginning of the joint exploitation of the hydroelectric potential of the Cunene Basin, opening up a perspective for the sharing of production between our countries, the participation of the private sector, the dynamisation of public-private partnerships in the field of production, transport, distribution and commercialisation of electricity,” said João Baptista Borges.
“[The Baynes agreement] that we have just signed presents us with urgent legal challenges, in particular the need to finalise its complementary protocols, namely the protocols inherent in the governance and management of the Common Project Area,” he noted.
In the speech to which Lusa had access, the Angolan minister also considered that the agreement signals the need to finalise common protocols on water use, energy sharing between the parties, customs control, taxation, and other fiscal instruments.
Similar efforts of an “urgent” nature should be made with a view to the rapid institutionalisation of the Binational Office of Lower Cunene and its installation in one of the states, the declaration of the public utility of the project in each of the states and the responsibilities of each of the states concerning the transfer of land for the implementation of the project, he noted.
The Baynes Hydroelectric Plant is, therefore, “an important factor in generating wealth (…), and it is, therefore, urgent that all the legal, administrative, economic, statutory, diplomatic, consular and other acts that are complementary or deemed pertinent to it be finalised and completed, to start construction in 2026,” concluded Baptista Borges.
Lusa
