The matter of finalizing the construction of the Katende hydropower plant was again discussed at the 82nd Ministerial Council meeting which was held on Friday 13 January 2023 under the chairmanship of Head of State Félix Tshisekedi. Following Félix Tshisekedi’s recommendation, Nicolas Kazadi, Minister of Finance informed the council that Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde Kyenge presided over in his suite on Thursday, November 24 a working session aimed at establishing procedures that should lead to an effective construction relaunch of the project Grand Katende Hydroelectric Power Station.

For that, he said, he delegated the project appraisal mission from 8 to 15 December 2022 to Katende and Lubumbashi.

“In light of the report’s findings, the Minister of Finance seized on December 28, 2022 through a request for additional financing under a new credit line from the Government of India with a total value of over USD 188 million for the continuation of the Katende hydropower development project. At this point it was finalized by the Minister of Hydraulic Resources and Electricity” reports a meeting report made by government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya

Under another aspect relating to the partnership between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of India, Minister of Finance Nicolas Kazadi reminded that within the framework of South-South cooperation, the two countries specially concluded between 2005 and 2015 several agreements covering various areas of cooperation. He plans to travel to India in the coming days for in-depth discussions with Exim Bank regarding a report made by the Directorate General of Public Debt which noted poor performance in the implementation of loan agreements.

According to this report, the Minister of Finance reminded that these financial collaboration projects have not been completed and the results have varied, except for the Kakobola hydropower dam project which received additional funding from the government and must be completed in the first phase. half of 2023.

“Among the factors which led to this state of affairs in the past, mention must be made of poor identification of needs and formulation of projects, lack of initial information about the technical and financial feasibility of these projects and the use of proper for competition procedures for the selection of the requested Indian companies. to execute contracts, even though there are legal provisions regarding awarding contracts with external financing”, he complained in the minutes of the meeting

The Katende hydropower plant works should be relaunched without delay, and completed within a reasonable time, President Tshisekedi recalled during his communication during the 77th Council of Ministers meeting he chaired in November. African Union.

The Katende power plant, which is located more than 75 kilometers from the city of Kananga, the provincial capital of Kasai Central, and 130 kilometers from Mbuji-Mayi, with a capacity of 64 megawatts, is intended to supply electricity to all provinces in the Grand Kasaï Region, in particular the province of Kasaï-Central and Kasaï-Oriental. Operationalization of this factory has always been one of the demands of officials and elected citizens in DRC.

Clement MUAMBA