China pulls out of project to build world’s biggest dam in DR Congo

Plans for the Grand Inga Dam, a multi-billion-dollar hydroelectric project on the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to provide renewable electricity to power large areas of Africa remain stalled decades after their inception and the recent withdrawal of China’s state-owned ‘Three Gorges Corporation’ has further compounded uncertainty to the project’s future.

The DRC government has long maintained that the project is still under progress but critics cite several issues including the country’s history of poor governance and the potential environmental consequences.

Concerns have also been raised over the shifting group of international partners with the latest setback being the withdrawal of the Chinese state-owned Three Gorges Corporation from the project last week, BBC reported. Adding to the challenges is the staggering cost, estimated at $80 billion (£63 billion), a daunting figure for one of the world’s poorest nations.

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Despite these obstacles, some argue that the project is being unfairly scrutinized compared to other large infrastructure ventures. Although construction has yet to begin, there has been a series of meetings and discussions among stakeholders in the past year, according to media reports.

According to the International Energy Agency, the need for the Grand Inga Dam remains urgent as roughly 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa still lack access to electricity.

Efforts to address the region’s energy crisis date back to the early 2000s when DRC and neighbouring countries such as South Africa, Angola, Namibia, and Botswana proposed an interconnected electricity grid. The Congo River’s vast hydropower potential led to the formation of Westcor, an international collective that sought to expand the two existing dams, Inga 1 and Inga 2. These dams, built in the 1970s and 1980s under Mobutu Sese Seko’s leadership, now operate at only 80% capacity due to lack of maintenance.

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The DRC government plans to add six more dams along the river to boost power generation, potentially producing up to 40,000 MW of electricity — enough to power New York City. The project is viewed as a critical step toward Africa’s industrialisation.

However, despite earlier projections to complete Inga 3 by 2018, the project has made little visible progress. While the World Bank has vowed continued support, it remains uncertain whether the Grand Inga Dam will ever come to fruition.