By PATRICK ILUNGA

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Despite the coronavirus challenge in the country, the Democratic Republic of Congo is moving ahead with plans to sell the Grand Inga dam project to the continent.

At a Council of Ministers summit on June 12, President Félix Tshisekedi announced that an African Heads of State meeting will be held soon.

"This conference, which will take place in two stages during this month of June and in September-October 2020, among other objectives is to present the current and future opportunities of the Grand Inga and to promote all the hydroelectric potential of the Democratic Republic of Congo so as to encourage calls for expressions of interest for the purchase of the energy to be produced," President Tshisekedi said.

The June forum will be a virtual high-level multinational and multi-sector forum on the Grand Inga in partnership with Africa Union DA-Nepad and the high representative of the African Union, Raila Odinga. It will be spread over three days and will bring together the Heads of State and or representatives of DR Congo, South Africa, Zambia, Angola, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana.

UN agencies, the African private sector and continental African organisations are also invited.

The Grand Inga dam’s potential can provide up to 40 per cent of the electricity needs of the continent.

The objective of the forum is to accelerate continental and global efforts towards renewable hydroelectricity projects and investments, innovation and the implementation of energy efficiency. This can only be done through regional co-operation and integration.

By leveraging the Grand Inga project, African governments through the AU are seeking to create the economies of scale needed for progress.