Côte d’Ivoire: Soubré dam to start up by end-March

The first 90MW turbine at the 275MW Soubré dam on the Sassandra River will start up by the end of March, according to CI-Energies director-general Amidou Traoré. All the turbines at the facility, which is being built by Sinohydro, will be fully operational in August, Traoré told reporters. Work began on the CFA331bn ($500m) project in 2013 (AE 270/7). Some 85% of the financing was provided through a loan from Export-Import Bank of China, with the balance met by the government of Côte d’Ivoire.