How Nyerere dam has controlled flooding in Coast and Morogoro regions

Dar es Salaam. The Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project has been very helpful in preventing flooding across various parts of the Coast and Morogoro regions, according to Energy Minister January Makamba, as downpours continue to affect numerous parts of the country.

Mr Makamba says the dam, built along the Rufiji River and currently being filled, has diverted water that had caused floods in the lowlands in previous years.

“We are glad that we have already reached one of the major goals of this project, which was to avert the destruction of settlements and farmlands by floods,” Mr Makamba said during his recent official visit to the project on Monday.

The minister said the amount of rainwater that filled the dam this month alone was equivalent to what caused flooding in the two regions of Morogoro and Coast three years ago.

“The rainfalls of the past two weeks, or even of two days ago, would have caused death and destruction in previous years, but this project has prevented this from happening this year,” he said.

Speaking about the project in general, Mr Makamba said that the project has been completed by about 86 percent and that the level of water that is available gives assurance of achieving the completion and power generation goals come June 2024.

He further elaborated that in order for the reservoir to start performing at its capacity, it has to have 30 billion cubic metres, and currently there are only 6 billion cubic metres, which is about 20 percent.

On his part, the managing director of Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (Tanesco), Mr Maharage Chande, assured the Minister that they will ensure that the project is completed on time to reduce power outages in the country.

“I call upon my colleagues to keep the pace because, as we see, the job is nearing completion; this is the time to finish the job without stalling,” Mr Chande said.

 President Samia Suluhu Hassan officiated the maiden filling of the Julius Nyerere Power Dam on December 22, 2022.