Namibia’s plans to build a US$45M hydro plant on the Okavango river pose significant ecological risks, say experts.
A preliminary assessment study, commissioned by power utility Nampower, concluded that the high wall, sluices and turbines of the 20MW plant would prevent the movement of sand sediments to the Okavango delta in neighbouring Botswana.
Nampower chief technical adviser Reiner Jagau told reporters a more detailed feasibility study would be undertaken in the next 18 months. The project would be close to Popa Falls, a scenic waterfall and tourist attraction in the northeastern Caprivi region, where a narrow finger of Namibian territory stretches along the Angolan and Zambian borders to the north, and Botswana to the south. If it goes ahead, construction would take two years.