By Charles Mkoka
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania — Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan is due to officially inaugurate the 2,115-megawatt Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project on Aug. 22, marking the formal launch of the country’s largest power-generation project built with domestic government funding.
Energy Minister Deogratius Ndejembi said Saturday the inauguration at the project site in Rufiji, Pwani Region, would be attended by government officials, guests from Tanzania and abroad, development partners and members of the public.
He described the event as a historic milestone in Tanzania’s efforts to strengthen electricity supply and support production, investment and economic growth.
“This inauguration is a historic event and an important step in Tanzania’s journey to build a reliable energy system,” Ndejembi told reporters in Dar es Salaam.
The project, which cost about 7.452 trillion Tanzanian shillings ($2.9 billion), was financed entirely by the Tanzanian government, according to the minister.
Ndejembi said the plant had significantly increased the amount of electricity entering Tanzania’s national grid and helped ease generation shortages that had contributed to power rationing in previous years.
As of May 31, 2026, the Julius Nyerere plant had generated about 44.9% of all electricity produced and fed into the national grid over the preceding year, he said.
The plant therefore accounts for nearly half of the electricity being used in Tanzania, Ndejembi said.
Beyond power generation, the project is also expected to support flood control along the Rufiji River, irrigation, tourism and domestic water use, according to the minister.
Construction began in June 2019 and was completed in March 2025. The reservoir has a storage capacity of 33 billion cubic metres of water, about 10 times the capacity of Tanzania’s Mtera Dam.
Ndejembi said the reservoir ranks as the country’s fourth-largest lake by volume, after Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika and Lake Nyasa, while the hydropower plant ranks among the largest such facilities in Africa.
The project forms part of Tanzania’s broader efforts to expand electricity generation and strengthen its transmission network, in line with the country’s Development Vision 2050.
Ndejembi urged Tanzanians to follow the inauguration through television, radio, digital platforms and other media, describing the project as a major milestone for the country’s energy sector and its ambitions to accelerate industrialisation and economic growth.
