AfDB guarantees €89.4m for Madagascar's Sahofika Hydroelectric Project
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has granted a €89.4 million guarantee to the New Hydroelectric Power Consortium of Onive (Neho) for the hydroelectric project it is developing near Antananarivo, Madagascar.
The consortium consists of the French company Eiffage, the Moroccan company Themis and Eranove, a Franco-African group. The AfDB guarantee will help mitigate risks for both the consortium and the project’s lenders. It will also support the payment obligations of the state-owned Jirama.
The project comprises a main dam on the Onive River, 60m high and forming a reservoir over an area of 8.9km², as well as an underground gallery - a 4.2km-long intake tunnel. It will be followed by a 2km-long penstock to the hydroelectric power station, 6.5km downstream. The water will then turn the turbines, which will be capable of generating 205MW.
The consortium will also build the transmission lines and all the infrastructure required for the construction of the dam or its operation, including access roads, temporary camps and permanent buildings, borrow pits, dredging areas. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2008.
