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Ruzizi III launches initial selection process for EPC turnkey contract

Ruzizi III Energy Ltd has launched the initial selection process for the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contract for the Ruzizi III regional hydropower project on the border between the Demo­cratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. Requests to participate should be submitted by 12 January 2022, according to a tender notice published on the EU’s procurement website TED on 9 Nov­ember.

The RIII-EPC contract is planned to be tendered in the fourth quarter of 2022, with work scheduled to begin in early 2023. The contract, which has an estimated total value of €436 million (excluding VAT), and is expected to take 56 months, will include the engineering, procurement, construction, testing and commissioning of a 45 m-high embankment dam with an associated spillway, low level outlet, and a small eco-flow unit, a 3.8 km-long, 6.7 m diameter, concrete-lined headrace tunnel from the dam reservoir to the powerhouse, penstock and unit penstocks, power station and switchyard, a 7.3 km-long, 220 kV double-circuit transmission line connecting the Ruzizi III substation to the regional dispatch station located in Kaman­yola (DRC), access roads from Bugarama (Rwanda) and Kamanyola (DRC) to the dam site, and all ancillary and related works. The power station will have three generating units and a 3 MW eco-flow unit, with a combined installed capacity of 206 MW. The Public Private Partnership project, on the Ruzizi river, which flows from Lake Kivu to Lake Tanganyika and which delineates the southern border of Rwanda with DRC and also forms the border between DRC and Burundi, is being developed on a BOOT basis by Ruzizi III Energy, a consortium of Industrial Promotion Services (IPS), the industrial and infrastructure development arm of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED), and Nor­way’s SN Power (owned by Scatec ASA), on behalf of the Governments of Burundi, the DRC and Rwanda. A 25-year concession agreement, as well as PPAs, were signed in July 2019 between the developer, the three governments and the respective national utilities of Burundi, the DRC, and Rwanda. The borrower has secured approval from the African Development Bank for part of the funding for the project, and is currently negotiating the remaining financing from a number of other multilateral development banks, including the World Bank, European Investment Bank, Germ­any’s Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), the French Development Agency (AFD), and the EU. Initial selection documents will be made available, in electronic format and free of charge, in a dedicated electronic system.

Those wanting further information or interested in applying can request access to the electronic system by sending an email to the address given below.

Contact: Luciano Canale, Project Director Ruzizi III Energy Ltd Sanlam Towers, Wing 4A 4th Floor, KN 67 St 10 Kigali 3300, Rwanda Tel: +25 0781553634 Email: luciano.canale@ruzizienergy.com; and Loncény Magassouba Ruzizi III Energy Cité Chemin de Fer, Commune de Kaloum BP 1463, Rue KA 050 Kigali, Rwanda Tel: +224 622676247 Email: RuziziIII_EPC_InitialSelection @ruzizienergy.com.