On March 26th, local time, the groundbreaking ceremony of the Kandaji Hydropower Project undertaken by China Energy Construction Gezhouba Group was held. The President of the Republic of Niger, Isuf Mahama, laid the foundation for the hydropower station at the construction site and announced the official launch of the project. Chinese Ambassador to Niger Zhang Lijun, representatives of Gezhouba International Company, and more than 500 local people attended the project launching ceremony.

In his speech, Isufu Mahama said that the Kandaji Hydropower Station, the largest hydropower station in Niger, is vital to Niger’s future economic development. The project construction will play an active role in solving the energy shortage and expanding employment in Niger.

Located about 180 kilometers upstream of Niamey, the capital of Niger, the Kandaji Hydropower Project is a multi-purpose hydropower project that focuses on power generation and water supply and irrigation. The installed capacity of the power station is 130 megawatts. After the completion of the project, the annual power generation will be about 617 million kWh, which will greatly solve the power shortage in Niamey and the surrounding capital of Niger and promote local economic development. During the construction of the project, it will also provide thousands of jobs for Niger to train technical talents.