Seven years later, Kampala and Kinshasa revive their electric interconnection project

Silent since 2014, Uganda-Democratic Republic of the Congo power transmission line project surfaces with convergence of interest from both countries.

Through the Nile Basin Initiative, an organization bringing together the countries responsible for regulating waters of the river, Kampala and Kinshasa agreed in mid-September to update a feasibility study to be funded by the African Bank of development (AfDB), for electric interconnection between the two countries. A first grind had been finalized in 2014 by American society Aecom. However, this one did not lead to the construction of a construction site due to lack of funding.

Posted as a priority for the Nile Basin Initiative, this project plans to renovate the Nkenda power station in western Uganda and link it to the city of Beni in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. To this first stretch, 138 km long, must be added a second line of 214 km between the Congolese communities of Butembo and Bunia.

The objective of this interconnection is finally to be able to export the excess energy produced by Ugandan side to the north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Located in the north of the two Kivus, this area is a true 'black pocket' of the Congolese grid, where electricity is provided thanks to expensive diesel generators.

In the spirit of its proponents, this new infrastructure is supposed to contribute to the development of a zone facing ongoing conflicts with armed militias. It is located in the immediate vicinity of the ′′ Triangle of Death ", known as one of the Ugandan rebel shrines of the Allied Democratic Forces(ADF). Present in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the early 90 s, the latter have carried out numerous bloody raids in surrounding towns and villages.