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Niger secures $80 mln from donors to advance dam project
Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou attends Summit of Heads of State and Governments of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) at the presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, Nigeira, June 11, 2015. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde
08/07/2015
NIAMEY (Reuters) - Niger said that it has won financial backing of 50 billion CFA Francs ($83.51 million) to relocate thousands of people from the site of a proposed hydroelectric dam.
The 500 billion CFA Franc Kandadji project has been underway since 2008, but work stalled after a dispute with the original partner. The project is set to be completed in 2017 and would be a key accomplishment for President Mahamadou Issoufou, who faces re-election next year.
"We agreed that the donors will effectively undertake the displacement of the people," the planning and community development minister, Amadou Boubacar Cissé, said on state television late on Tuesday after a meeting with donors.
They include the World Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, the African Development Bank and the French Development Agency.
Niger, a largely desert country that often struggles to feed its people because of droughts, had originally agreed to pay for the relocation of 40,000 residents from the construction site.
The project, located about 180 kilometres northwest of the capital, Niamey, will have a capacity of 130 MW and would also provide irrigation.
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