On 7th May, the head of state Denis Sassou Nguesso, cut the symbolic ribbon and unveiled the inaugural stone of the 120-megawatt dam, built on the river Léfini. At a cost of 170 billion CFA francs, the work was made by the Chinese company CMEC in 5 years.
This is a gigantic task, which mobilized some 2,000 Congolese workers, 600 Chinese technicians and 23 Germans from the control company Fichtner. The dam has put an end to the energy dependence of Brazzaville vis-à-vis the Inga dam in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), power cuts and poor power quality.
Denis Sassou-Nguesso inaugurated the hydroelectric dam Imboulou
The dam Imboulou will promote the establishment of factories in the northern part of the Congo, which used to be powered by generators. The Congolese Head of State laid the foundation stone for the construction of this work in September 2003. But the actual work began in 2005.
Apart from the dam, there is the construction of transmission lines - high voltage, low and medium voltage - estimated at 300 billion CFA francs, as well as the network rehabilitation in Brazzaville. These two projects under construction will be completed by the end of the year.
The dam lies on the greenish waters of Léfini at 14km from the confluence with the River Congo, to the point where Pool and Plateaux departments meet.
Electricity for Brazzaville
With electricity transmission lines attached to it, the Imboulou dam feeds Brazzaville and several other towns. Its energy is injected to the national grid by two parallel lines of 220KV, each connecting the plant to the electricity hub in Ngo.
The imposing structure has changed the landscape of the area, especially with the construction of an access road of 60km, school and health centers, houses of technical staff, a hotel offering a bird's-eye view of the dam, and other related works.
The populations of the districts of Brazzaville, whose homes are still not supplied with the energy from the Imboulou, will have to to wait until the end of the rehabilitation works of the urban network. Functional since June 2010, the dam Imboulou supplies some parts of the capital and injects a few megawatts in the network of the DRC.
The Ngo station receives energy produced by the four turbines of Imboulou and injects it into the existing network in the south and in the network which has been in construction in the north of the country.
A turning point in national energy policy
The Minister of Energy and Hydraulics, Bruno Jean Richard Itoua, wanted that the management of the Imboulou dam mark a turning point in managing the National Electricity Company (SNE), which has been experiencing difficulties for several years. He insisted on connecting the surrounding villages to the grid of Imboulou.
To date, different constructions have taken place: 7 high voltage power supplies of 220KV and 110KV to Djiri Ngo, Gamboma, Oyo Boundji, Owando and Djambala etc. These works should include the length of the national electricity transmission to 1588 km.
Under the energy government plan, for which the Imboulou dam is the central link, the southern part of the country, especially Pointe-Noire, benefits form the energy produced by the two gas power plants of 50 and 300 megawatts, including Moukoukoulou Dam (74 megawatts).
Furthermore, President Sassou-Nguesso has decorated the Congolese and Chinese leaders, who had helped build the dam Imboulou, in order of the Congolese merit to the rank of commander, Grand Officer, Officer and Knight.
