The African Development Bank (AfDB) will give US$22 million to help build two new hydroelectric dams in Burundi, which is experiencing a serious energy crisis.
An agreement for the money was signed by the Burundian minister of Finance, Tabou Abdallah Manirakiza, and the AfDB resident representative, Ba Abou, Burundi national television reported on Thursday.
The fund will help build two hydroelectric dams on River Jiji IjI and River Mulembwe in southern Burundi that will generate 50 megawatts of power.
The building of the dams will take three years, from October 2015 with generation of power to reduce the energy deficit in the country where production from existing hydroelectric dams built in the 1980s is lower than 60 megawatts.
The country’s energy production is far lower than the 220 megawatts needed for the extraction of minerals in the country and to attain socioeconomic development, according to figures released by the Burundian ministry of Energy and Mines.
