Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has asked for the support of the Chinese government towards the completion of the Mambilla Power Project in Taraba State northeast of the country.
He made the request during the signing of an agreement with President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the 74th Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing.
The Mambilla project is Nigeria’s biggest and one of Africa’s leading dam projects.
It is a projected hydro power plant, which would be connected to three dams across Taraba’s Donga River.
Conceived in 1982, the main Mambilla dam is a large rolled compact concrete dam and reservoir 1,300 metres above sea level.
Water is diverted towards the western side of the plateau through three hydraulic tunnels totaling 33 kilometres and intercepted by two smaller dams both at an elevation of 1,250 metres .
The tunnels lead into a 1,000-metre drop shaft and then to a massive underground powerhouse with a generating capacity of 3,050 megawatts.