Lom Pangar: River Sanaga to be regulated in January

The Sanaga River will be regulated in January 2016 after works on the Lom Pangar dam was launched by the head of tate, Paul Biya, three years ago (August 3, 2012).

The partial filling phase was successfully held on September 26, 2015, inn the presence of experts from the World Bank (WB), one of five donors (AfDB, EIB, AFD, BDEAC), who supervised the process.

The amount of money allocated to the construction of the dam was FCFA 238 billion. The water storage operation in the reservoir of the dam is in progress. Sources said that more than a billion and a half cubic meters of water is already stored.

Some three billion m3 of water is expected by the end of the rainy season. According to the Chinese company CWE responsible for carrying out this work, and previously with over 1,200 Cameroonians and Chinese workers, the infrastructure construction rate is currently estimated at over 90%.

The client, the Electricity Development Corporation (EDC), indicated that the final impoundment will take place in July 2016, as planned'; if no imponderable is recorded. Experts and engineers of Coyne and Belier / ISL, contractors, specified that the works are performed according to the rules of art. And despite the strikes repeat observed on site, deadlines and commitments will be respected.

The weight of the Lom Pangar dam is not demonstrated in the reduction of energy deficit and blackouts in Southern Interconnected System (RIS). This deduction will allow, the regulation of the upstream flow of the Sanaga River from January. This is with direct consequence of increasing electricity generation hydroelectric plants in Edea and Songloulou, with a capacity of 70-80 MW, without any investment.

According to national projections, Lom-Pangar will help to build a half-dozen other dams on the watershed of the Sanaga: Nachtigal dams, Song-Mbengue, Song Ndong-to Kikot and Grand Eweng.The Sanaga River alone has 70% of the country's energy potential.

This gives the country the title of the third largest hydropower potential in Africa, after the DR Congo and Ethiopia. In addition, the structuring of the Lom Pangar project is also strengthened by the imminent construction of the foot plant of 30 MW and the transmission line 120 Kilovolt (KV) Lom Pangar in Bertoua, to electrify over 150 localities in the Eastern Region.

Finally, the social impacts of the project such as the construction of decent housing in the New Lom Pangar village are already visible.