Lom Pangar Dam: Investors give good report on partial flooding

A delegation of investors to the Lom Pangar dam project, currently under construction in the Eastern region of Cameroon, made a new visit to the construction site.

The goal for this visit, on November 27 was to enable the investors to assess the progress of the works, two months after its partial flooding which took place on September 26, 2015.

"A lot of work has been done. Proof of this was the possibility of doing the partial flooding in September. This was a unanimous success. The work undertaken in June, July, and August was phenomenal. But there is still a lot of work to do. However, we are confident about the successful completion of the remaining activities within the deadlines, because all stakeholders have demonstrated their ability to respect these deadlines," Stéphane Garnier, energy expert at the World Bank, confided.

Christine Robichon, French ambassador in Cameroon, who was supported by the in-country AFD director, declared herself suitably impressed by the sheer size of the project.

"This is the biggest site I have visited since my arrival in Cameroon", the French diplomat declared, before adding: "this dam is not yet completed, but it already partially serves its purpose".

The 2016 low water period insights

The partial flooding of the Lom Pangar dam in September already has the retention of 3 billion m3 of water as at November 24, 2015. This water will be gradually released starting from December 2015, at the request of Eneo, the public electricity service agent for the country; in order to ensure flow adjustments on the Sanaga river.

According to Electricity Development Corporation (EDC), the developer of the Lom Pangar project, this adjustment will help in managing low water flows in 2016, while increasing by 70 MW, without any additional investment, the production of the Edéa and Songloulou plants, which capacities dwindle during the low water period, characterised by the drop in the water level in the dams of the country (Mape, Bamendjin and Mbakaou).

Built by the Chinese company CWE, the Lom Pangar dam, which will be delivered in July 2016 with a final capacity of retention of 6 billion cubic meters, is financed by the State of Cameroon, the World Bank, AFD, BEI, AfDB, and BDEAC.

The construction of a production plant at the foot of the dam has been scheduled, with a capacity of 30 MW, in order to bring electricity to several villages int eh Eastern region.