Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has said African states should take urgent steps to develop the Grand Inga Hydroelectric Project on the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo to generate environmentally friendly but cheap and sustained power.
He said Africa, under the auspices of the New Partnership for Africa\u2019s Development (NEPAD), should team up with the international community to develop the Inga Project which, at an estimated cost of $80 billion, is seen as the world\u2019s largest proposed hydroelectric scheme.
Projected to produce 40,000 megawatts of electricity, the former President said the Inga Project is seen as a catalyst for an \u201cunprecedented era of industrialization in Africa and even have electricity for potential export to Europe.\u201d
Former President was speaking at the opening of an international meeting on \u201cEnergy, Environment and Investment\u201d at Port Harcourt in Nigeria.
The three-day meeting under the theme: \u201cSustainable Energy, the Key to Africa\u2019s World Integration,\u201d is being attended by about 1,500 participants from around the world,\u201d is chaired by the Mr Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, Governor of Rivers State.
Among dignitaries billed to address the meeting are Former President Lech Walesa of Poland, Former Premier Jose Luis Zapatero of Spain, Mr Francois Fillon, Former Prime Minister of France and Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, UN Special Envoy for Sudan.
Former President Kufuor described the Inga project as the \u201ccenterpiece of a grand vision to develop a continent-wide power system that will allow Africa\u2019s industrial and manufacturing to take off,\u201d adding: \u201cthis will be the greatest manifestation of Africa\u2019s integration into the new and evolving world order of globalization.\u201d
He said renewable energy offered strong environmental benefits, adding \u201cAfrica has tremendous water and river systems each of which should be considered a candidate for hydroelectric power development.\u201d
Former President Kufuor urged African countries to adopt Climate Smart Agriculture polices to enable them to achieve their food security goals while adapting to the ravages of climate change.
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Source: GNA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has said African states should take urgent steps to develop the Grand Inga Hydroelectric Project on the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo to generate environmentally friendly but cheap and sustained power.He said Africa, under the auspices of the New Partnership for Africa\u2019s Development (NEPAD), should team up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":29426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[43,22,38,4],"yoast_head":"\n