THE eagerly awaited Julius Nyerere Hydroelectric Power Project (JNHPP) has unique features that make the dam among the largest hydropower facilities in the African continent.
Director General (DG) of the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO), Mr Maharage Chande spoke of the unique features of the power infrastructure on Thursday during the opening of the diversion channel to direct water into the dam for generation of electricity.
According to the DG, the 2,115 megawatts project, whose execution stands at 78.68 per cent, has a 700- metre diversion channel whose length is equivalent to about seven football grounds.
The diversion’s width can accommodate the passage of two trains at once. Comparatively, the width of the diversion is just the same as the width of Kilosa‘s SGR tunnels.
The main dam has employed a new Rolled Compacted Concrete (RCC) technology with a total length of 1,025m at crest level and 130m dam level.
“The amount of concrete used was 1.75 million tonnes which can be used on 20 bridges of the size of Tanzanite Bridge located in Dar es Salaam, each comprising 60,000 cubic metres of concrete,” he said, indicating that the remaining work will now involve fixing of gates when water is filled up.
The main dam also consists of four saddle dams for reservoir with the capacity to fill approximately 32 billion cubic metres of water, exceeding the amount of water that fills Lake Rukwa.
Mr Chande also revealed that the length of the main dam could impound up to 131 cubic metres, relatively the same as the 42-storey building and a substation of 400kv and transmission lines.
The transmission line is intended to support the transportation of the generated electricity, which is produced at low voltage, to Chalinze which is 100km away from the generation point.
Similarly, he identified three tunnels whose width is between 350 to 540 metres, each to be installed with three machines with a capacity of producing 235 megawatts to make a total of 2,115 megawatts.
“Each machine supports up to 225,000 litres of water to flow per second, whereby water produced in Dar es Salam amounts to 30,000 litres per second, reflecting a huge project,” noted the DG.
He said that the construction of a bridge which will link people from North and South was at 96.87 percent, with staff houses (84.89 percent).
Based on the status of the project whose value is 6.5tri/-, he disclosed that until end of last month the government had already paid the contractor 4.5tri/- which is over 70 percent of the entire cost which is the tax payers’money.
Expounding further, the Executive Director noted that the project had no outstanding certificates which awaited payments.
Taking into account the massiveness of the project, about 12,275 jobs had been created by November comprising 11,164 locals (90.67 percent) and 1,111 foreigners (9.1 percent), considering all the necessary impact and environmental assessments.
He cited an example of similar projects like the Kihansi, Kidatu and Mtera which placed proper consideration on environment in their execution.
As such, a portion of the water accumulated at the dam will be channeled to the other side to support the ecological flow, stressing that the importance of the project is to boost the energy sector and implementation of key strategic projects within the country.
The third Five -Year National Development Plan targets to generate up to 5,000 megawatts by the year 2025.
Upon completion of the project, the plan will be successful by relatively half, noting that in this financial year the company has identified several projects to be implemented in the first phase to arrive there.
“Our goal is to prepare ourselves from any future shocks; therefore our short term goal is to reach 1,913 megawatts by the end of this financial year and 4,493 megawatts in the next financial year and 6077 megawatts (2024/25),” said Mr Chande.
Another area which TANESCO has given priority is good customer services and performance based organization for more productivity of the utility company.
Despite the many challenges incurred in the course of implementing the project, he expressed commitment to ensure the project is completed on time and meets the set goals.
