Bloomberg reported that Democratic Republic of Congo will invite more countries into Western Power Corridor Co, the regional partnership that plans to build the USD 5 billion Inga 3 hydropower plant on Africa's biggest river.

Mr Bene M’Poko, the Congolese ambassador to South Africa, said that it will ask all 15 members of the Southern African Development Community to join Westcor at a regional summit due to be held in Kinshasa on September 7th 2009 to September 8th 2009. He added that "What we're going to propose during this summit is a framework whereby we should aim to produce more than 4,000 MW so that we can accommodate the needs of everyone in the region. Let's open the doors so all the countries can join in."

It may be noted that Angola, Botswana, Congo, Namibia and South Africa in 2005 established Westcor to develop Inga 3 and tackle growing power shortages in the region. The plant would generate 4,300 MWs from the Congo River.

Congo will also urge SADC to include the proposed USD 80 billion Grand Inga project into its plans to boost regional electricity supplies, M’Poko said. The Congolese government last year suggested the Grand Inga project replace the Inga 3 project after the country’s energy needs grew. Grand Inga would generate 40,000 MWs, enough to power the entire continent of Africa.

(Sourced from www.bloomberg.net)