The Mphanda Nkuwa Hydroelectric Project Implementation Office (GMNK), together with the International Hydropower Association (IHA), met yesterday (07-03) in Maputo with international financial institutions to present the project's Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) sustainability assessment, a requirement for funding from those institutions for projects similar to the size and nature of Mphanda Nkuwa.

The aim of the event was to gather comments and subsidies from the financial institutions and inform them about the work underway, which will be fundamental in the certification process, based on the best international practices established in the Sustainable Hydroelectricity Standard. These institutions include the World Bank, International Finance Cooperation (IFC), African Development Bank (AfDB), Agence Française de Développement (AFD), European Investment Bank (EIB), Norwegian Investment Fund (Norfund), KfW Development Bank, US Development Finance Corporation (DFC), Development Bank of Southern Africa, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Export - Import Bank of China and Export - Import Bank of US - EXIM/DFC, among others.

The workshop to assess water sustainability in Mozambique was held last November, focusing on the Mphanda Nkuwa Project, using the HESG - Hydropower Environmental, Social and Governance Gap Analysis Tool, i.e. Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Parameters, in line with the project's vision of transparency and continuous improvement.

The evaluation was carried out within the framework of cooperation between the GMNK and the IHA, with the support of the Norwegian Agency for Cooperation and Development (Norad) and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of the Government of Switzerland (SECO).

As part of this process, in coordination with Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB), GMNK also held a seminar in Tete province to share the experience of this assessment, with a view to improving decision-making, alignment with the expectations of financial institutions, and engagement with civil society. The seminar was attended by civil society organizations, Justiça Ambiental and Centro Terra Viva, provincial and local authorities, ARA-Centro, the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA), Electricidade de Moçambique and HCB.

With an estimated cost of 4.5 billion dollars, the Mphanda Nkuwa hydroelectric project includes the development of a run-of-river dam, located 61 km downstream from Cahora Bassa, on the Zambezi River, in Tete province. A hydroelectric plant with an installed power generation capacity of up to 1,500 megawatts and a 1,300-kilometer high-voltage power transmission line from Tete to Maputo.