Despite environmental warnings, the Tanzanian government is set to build a dam in the heart of the Selous Game Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
After many years of delays and false starts, the Tanzanian government has advanced the construction of the Stiegler’s Gorge hydroelectric dam, now renamed Julius Nyerere. The dam is located in the Morogoro area on the Rufiji River, at the heart of Nyerere National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage protected area formerly known as the Selous Game Reserve. The reservoir created by the gigantic dam is estimated to be 100 kilometres (62 miles) long and will cover an area of 1,200 square kilometres (460 square miles). The 134m curved concrete structure is expected to hold back 34 billion cubic meters of water. The hydroelectric dam is being constructed by two Egyptian firms: Arab Contractors (ArabCo) and El Sewedy Electric. Upon completion, the dam will become the biggest dam in East Africa. The state-owned power utility Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) will own and manage the dam.
Authorities in Tanzania have strongly defended the Julius Nyerere hydroelectric dam. Without evidence, the state claimed that the dam’s reservoir would only cover only 3% of the protected area, adding that it would not listen to critics.
In 1901, a German engineer named Stiegler led the first mission to assess potential infrastructure development on the Rufiji River. Stiegler’s expedition aimed to explore the river and the surrounding lands, conducting trigonometric and hydrological surveys and taking measurements of water flow and water levels. The colonial administration wanted to appraise the navigability of the Rufiji and the Kilombero (Ulanga) rivers. But in 1907, Stiegler’s habit of hunting elephants in his free time caused him trouble.
During a hunting expedition, Stiegler wounded an elephant and pursued it, but the aggressive animal suddenly charged at its aggressors. This caused the gun bearer to flee, taking the gun with him. The elephant then hurled a defenceless Stiegler into the air, and his death was instantaneous. Later, the German and British colonial governments renamed the area Stiegler’s Gorge.
In 1982, the World Heritage Committee decided to include the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania on the World Heritage list. This was to honour the “Outstanding Universal Value” of this vast protected wildness, the oldest and largest in Africa, covering an area the size of Switzerland. The project was shelved around 1983 after the World Bank refused to co-finance the Julius Nyerere Hydroelectric Dam.
The Nyerere National Park is home to a large number of elephants, black rhinoceroses, cheetahs, giraffes, hippopotamuses and crocodiles that roam freely in the wilderness. The park covers 50,000 square kilometres and is relatively undisturbed by human impact. However, the dam will likely change this.
Four decades later, the Tanzanian authorities revived calls to build the dam project. The state awarded a controversial contract to the scandal-ridden Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht. The embattled corporation is at the centre of a major international corruption scandal. According to investigative reports, the company uses a complex network of shell companies, off-book transactions and offshore bank accounts and has a dedicated bribery division. In recent years, Odebrecht paid more than $800 million in bribes to government officials, their representatives and political parties in countries across the world. This conduct helped it win contracts and other benefits totalling $3.34 billion.
However, negotiations between Brazil and Tanzania were conducted at the highest level and a Memorandum of Understanding was signed in 2012 and later renewed in 2016. A year later, Odebrecht submitted estimated investment costs for the dam of US$ 3.6 billion, excluding the necessary power lines to connect with the national grid. In addition, the firm even provided advice on how to handle critics such as the World Heritage Committee and non-profit conservation organizations. However, LifeGate understands that Odebrecht is no longer involved in the dam project.
Bernard Kioko Ndaka, an environmental activist and director for the Global Green Economy Kenya (GGEK), says the dam will cause an irreversible environmental disaster. “I strongly believe that this dam will be a disaster, without a doubt. I wish the Tanzanian government would listen to our environmental concerns. My main worry is that this dam will destroy one of the most important iconic habitats for wildlife in the game reserve, where most of the animals roam freely, especially in the dry season,” Ndaka said in an interview with LifeGate.
“I know that this development will open up the whole area for industrialization, mining activities, infrastructure and settlements development,” said Ndaka. Furthermore, the activist criticised claims, stated in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), that water releases from the hydroelectric dam would be sufficient to keep the floodplain lakes connected to the Rufiji River for most of the months of the year and thus sustain floodplain fish production and minimize flooding. He said the findings lack solid evidence.
Joerg Hartmann, an independent expert and assessor on the sustainability of hydropower projects, who has worked in Tanzania for several years, claimed that the EIA shows “no serious technical assessment of downstream impacts,” which he described as “an irresponsible and unforgivable mistake”.
What’s more, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) condemned the EIA findings, saying the study falls far short of normal standards for projects of the said magnitude and complexity and adding that the dam project does not provide a sound basis for decision-making. Although the EIA claims that the dam would bring benefits for local inhabitants residing downstream and reduce dangerous floods, the IUCN disagrees, saying the claim is not based on credible reasoning or evidence. Calls by the IUCN for the government to “permanently abandon” the project were ignored.
“We have been advising the government for years to invest in less destructive energy sources. Instead of listening, the government took a different approach, with the authorities shutting down the dam project debate. Even worse, the government has repeatedly warned that anyone who resisted the project would be jailed,” says one conservationist who did not want to be identified.
These warnings have undoubtedly been heeded. One non-profit organisation explained that “The dam project is a highly sensitive subject; critics have been prohibited to access the dam site. High-profile environmentalists don’t want to say anything negative against the development despite opposing the project.” Presumably, there are many alternative energy pathways are available to Tanzania, so the government must utilize the opportunities presented by renewables such as solar, wind and geothermal energy to diversify the country’s energy mix.
