A hydroelectric power plant, funded by the Italian government, is to be built on the Pungué river in the Barué district of the Manica province in central Mozambique. The facility will be used for irrigation and to boost the water supply to the cities of Beira and Dondo, in the adjoining Sofala province.
The cost of the dam’s construction is estimated to be €39 million and is part of a joint economic package from Italy and the World Bank. It comes from their €60 million environmental sanitation programme, the rest of which is earmarked mainly for drainage work in Maputo.
The project is to take around 4 years, concluding in 2015. When completed, the 30-metre-high dam is expected to create a lagoon with a capacity for 190 million cubic metres of water, and will cover an area of 10,000 hectares.
The dam will irrigate 3,500 hectares in the regions of Inhazónia in Manica province and Mafambisse in Sofala province, will act as a reservoir for the cities of Beira and Dondo and will produce 1 MW of electricity that will serve the facility itself and its surrounding communities.
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