Prioritizing large dam projects in West Africa

The potential for hydropower production in West Africa has been estimated at around 24 000 MW, but only 10 per cent has been developed so far. The rate of irrigation development is about the same (12 per cent). Although the region has enormous renewable water resources, these are under-utilized mainly for economic reasons, a fact defined by IWMI as economic water scarcity. Many large dam projects are currently in the pipeline in West Africa. However, some of them have been waiting for a very long time, in some cases more than 50 years. To clarify the status of these projects, ECOWAS water unit launched in 2009 the “Dialogue on large water infrastructures in West Africa”, an initiative aimed at revitalizing a number of existing projects.