Dundo - With the inauguration of the Luachimo hydroelectric dam, today (Friday), citizens of the city of Dundo, capital of the province of Lunda-Norte, are once again consuming clean electrical energy, produced by a source with less environmental impact and way more economic.
The dam, built in the 1950s, suspended its production in 2016, to benefit from rehabilitation and expansion works, which resulted in the population of Dundo, where the energy project is located, becoming dependent on thermal sources.
Inaugurated by the Minister of Energy and Water, João Borges, the production capacity of the largest energy project in Eastern Angola, which comprises the provinces of Lunda-Norte, Lunda-Sul and Moxico, was increased from 8.4 megawatts (MW) to 34MW.
The rehabilitation and expansion works on the dam cost US$225 million, financed through a credit line from China.
The project generated a thousand direct and indirect jobs.
The contract included the rehabilitation of mechanical equipment, the execution of a new hydraulic circuit sized for 240 cubic meters of water/second, consisting of a water intake, adduction channel, loading chamber and return channel.
A new 60 kilovolt substation was also built and the access road to the dam was renewed, including the passage to the power station.
The plant's new infrastructure is 35 meters high, the equivalent of an 11-storey building, in an area 50 meters long and 30 meters in cross section.
The old power station building was rehabilitated to serve technical education institutions, with the aim of being the 1st museum in the energy sector in Angola.
The project also includes the recovery of the 85-kilometer high voltage transmission line to the mining town of Nzagi, in the municipality of Cambulo, with an additional value estimated at USD 40 million.
The project's last stage foresees the expansion of the distribution network to the Lucapa headquarters, including the town of Calonda.
The transport line will also pass through the towns of Fucauma and Cassanguidi, taking into account the existence of economic activities, mainly in the mining sector.HD/CF/DOJ
