Congo (TGW) – Several African governments and the world’s largest construction firms and banks met recently to discuss a proposed $80 billion hydroelectric dam that would double the amount of electricity available to the African continent.



Proponents hope the Grand Inga dam in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will jump start the continent’s economy, and say the dam will produce twice as much electricity as the world current largest dam, the Three Gorges in China.



Activists, however, believe the dam will ignore local peoples and leave the Congo with massive debts.



"The project would be a magnet for corruption in one of the world's least stable regions. Inga will centralize a vast store of the region's electric and financial power, a development model that can foster tensions and civil wars," said Terri Hathaway, Africa campaigner with International Rivers, a watchdog group monitoring the project.



Via :: Guardian