CDB expresses interest in financing $1.2 billion Zambia-Kenya-Tanzania Power Interconnector Project

In 2014, the Governments of Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya agreed to interconnect their power systems by constructing a high voltage Alternating Current (AC) transmission line, traversing the three countries over a total distance of 2,300km. The project will seek to link the Eastern African Power Pool (EAPP) with the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP).

This larger Zambia-Tanzania-Kenya Power Interconnector project will be developed through a 400kV double circuit power transmission line in Kenya and Tanzania while the segment in Zambia will be constructed as two single 330kV circuits.

The voltage transformation will be at the proposed Nakonde 400kV / 330kV substation in Zambia located approximately 14km from the Tanzania-Zambia border.

On December 14, 2014, a Tripartite Inter-Governmental Memorandum of Understanding (TIGMOU) was signed by the three countries in which the three countries agreed to develop the project. It was agreed that each country would develop the segment of the project within its boundaries.

Prospective funders of the project include Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), World Bank, African Development Bank, and China Development Bank (CDB) The project design was prepared by the Coordination Unit of the Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Program (NELSAP) with funding from the Government of Norway and European Union through KFW.

The NELSAP Coordination Unit long-term objective is the creation of a regional electricity market that can play a key role in ensuring that the hydropower resources of the Nile Basin are developed and managed in an integrated and sustainable manner with special focus to regional interconnections.

The project was originally expected to begin construction in December 2015 or early 2016, with a completion date set for December 2018. However, it has encountered various delays.

In 2017, project feasibility reports were approved, a technical design study was completed, an environmental and social impact assessment was completed, and a resettlement action plan was completed.