Congo Republic inaugurates $109 million hydroelectric dam

The 19.9 megawatt (MW) dam in the northern town of Liouesso brings Congo’s hydroelectric production to 214 MW, nearly half of total national power output. The country produced just 89 MW in 2000, according to the government.

“The Liouesso dam will give great productive capacity to the businesses installed in the region,” President Denis Sassou Nguesso said at the inauguration ceremony, though his infrastructure minister noted the government had yet to find buyers for three-quarters of the dam’s output.

Oil accounts for around 65 percent of GDP in the central African nation, Africa’s fourth-largest crude producer, but it is aiming to diversify its economy by increasing investments in infrastructure as well as in the mining and forestry sectors.