Tanzania has opened a new tender for the construction of Rufiji hydropower project at Stieglers Gorge, a move that will see the construction of the largest dam in Tanzania along the Rufiji River in the Selous Game Reserve
The hydropower project is said to have an installed capacity of around 2,100MW and a minimum guaranteed annual supply of 5,920 GW per hour, the Tanzanian Ministry of Energy and Minerals (MEM) stated in a statement on 30 August 2017.
According to the Citizen, International Competitive Bidding (ICB) will conduct the tender as specified in the Public Procurement (Amendment) Act, 2016 and the Public Procurement (Goods, Works, Non-Consultants Services and Disposal of Public Assets by Tender) Regulations, 2013.
The government has invited the public, private and semi-public companies to participate in the bidding processes. According to the MEM statement, the bidders with average annual construction turnover of US$500mn or more in last five years will be eligible for application.
The interested bidders are asked to submit the application by 16 October 2017, reported the source.
The construction of the proposed hydropower project will include the main dam and appurtenant structures with 34,000 million cubic of expected storage capacity. The dam will be built with an expected total height of 134m with about 100km of length. It will be covering an area of about 1,350 sq km, stated the source.
Apart from the main dam, the project will also include the construction of saddle dams, cofferdams as well as power houses.
The construction of Rufiji hydropower project comes in line with the Tanzanian government’s plan to boost up the country’s power generation capacity up to 10,000MW by the end of 2025. Currently, the country’s power generation capacity stands at 1,358MW.
The project has been scheduled to be completed in three years.
