The Portuguese government has sold its 15-per -cent stake in Mozambique's Cahora Bassa hydroelectric dam, dpa cited Radio Mozambique as reporting today. In a deal signed by Mozambique's Minister of Energy, Salvador Namburete and the head of Portugal's national energy authority, in Maputo Friday, Portugal sold half of its stake to Mozambique's electricity company CEZA and the other half to unnamed Portuguese enterprises. The announcement came on the last day of a three-day state visit by Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates. Portugal is the former colonial power of the south-east African country, which gained independence in 1975. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed. The Cahora Bassa on the mighty Zambezi river is Africa's fourth-largest dam. The dam was transferred from Portuguese to Mozambican control in 2007 after Mozambique paid Portugal 950 million dollars for the dam. Mozambique borrowed 700 million dollars towards the dam from a Canadian consortium, French lender Calyon, and Portuguese bank BPI. Cahora Bassa is a big revenue earner for the impoverished but resource-rich country of 20 million people. HCB, the company that operates the dam, makes around 150 million dollars per annum through power sales, mainly to South Africa and Zimbabwe. The dam has an installed capacity of 2,075 megawatts. Mozambique is also trying to attract investment in a project for another dam, some 70 kilometres downstream from Cahora Bassa. The Mphanda Nkuwa is forecast to generate 1,500 megawatts of power and cost 2.5 billion dollars.
