The Iona could become the gateway for all equipment for the construction of the Baynes hydroelectric dam, on the Cunene River, the border between Angola and Namibia, if the Commercial Port of Namibe is chosen for unloading, in to the detriment of the Port of Walvis Bay, in that neighboring country.
The dam, whose work should begin in 2021, as announced by the Minister of Energy and Water, João Batista Borges, during his last visit to Namibe, in March this year, will benefit both countries (Angola and Namibia), negotiations that will dictate the hiring of the company executing the project have already been concluded. However, what seems to have not been decided is the issue regarding the port, where the machines and equipment to be used in the construction of the project, budgeted at 1.2 billion dollars, will be cleared through customs.
The Port of Namibe is more than 300 kilometers from the region in which the project will be implemented, while the Port of Walvis Bay is more than 1000 kilometers away.
According to our report, almost the entire route from the main Namibian port city to the Baynes region is already paved, with only around 80 kilometers of the same road remaining to be completed.
On the Angolan side, almost everything remains to be done in terms of building an access road from the town of Curoca, municipality of Tômbwa. According to the municipal administrator, Alexandre Niyuka, the areas through which the road that will connect the city of Moçâmedes to the Baynes region will pass have already been identified, passing through the towns of Tchipatukilu, Otchifengo and Lutuima. The governor of Namibe, Archer Mangueira, followed the route to the region, starting from the headquarters of Iona, on a journey of around 120 kilometers. It took more than three hours to travel on the road that, since 2015, has been explored by people, with support from the Tômbwa Municipal Administration.
The Baynes hydroelectric plant will consist of a rockfill dam with a concrete face, and will be 200 meters high, 1,025 meters long, 40 kilometers of reservoir and a flooded area of ​​58.15 square kilometers. According to the agreement approved by the two countries in 2014, after feasibility studies carried out a year earlier, the power generation plant will have a capacity of 300 megawatts for Angola, and the same amount for Namibia.

Source: angop

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