Construction of Ruzizi III hydropower plant for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi

The Ruzizi III hydropower project is among the most protracted infrastructure initiatives in Central Africa, predating the Global Gateway framework by well over a decade. The plant, designed to generate 206 MW of electricity shared across the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi, has been in planning and preparatory phases since the mid-2000s. Its inclusion under the Africa-EU Green Energy Initiative is, at this stage, largely nominal: no EU Commission committed or disbursed amounts appear in the IATI Datastore, and no matching record exists in the EIB project database, which is a significant gap given that IATI and EIB records are among the most reliable available signals of actual financial engagement. The broader financing picture has shifted considerably in recent months, though not primarily through European channels. Bloomberg reported in June 2025 that a US firm had committed $760 million in backing for the project, a development that would represent a substantial injection of private capital if confirmed. However, the Bloomberg snippet available does not identify the US firm by name, and independent verification of the terms and conditionality of that commitment is not available from the sources reviewed here. Separately, Reuters reported in March 2025 that the EIB was reviewing its financing for the $760 million project in light of the ongoing conflict in eastern DRC, a Tier 1 source signal that carries considerable weight. That review introduced real uncertainty about whether European development finance would proceed or be suspended. More recently, and despite the conflict-related pause signalled by Reuters, Green Building Africa reported in June 2026 that EIB Global had announced an additional EUR 5 million grant for the project. Green Building Africa is not an independent news wire, and this announcement should be treated as promotional until confirmed by a Tier 1 or Tier 2 source. It is also worth noting that a EUR 5 million grant is modest relative to the overall project cost and is consistent with preparatory or technical assistance funding rather than construction financing. On the private sector side, Green Building Africa also reported in March 2026 that the DRC was in talks with TotalEnergies regarding the project, though again no Tier 1 or Tier 2 confirmation is available and the nature and status of those discussions remain unclear. The most substantive obstacle flagged by independent sources is DRC-side delay. KT Press, a Rwandan outlet, reported in June 2026 that the DRC was delaying progress on the project, a characterisation consistent with the wider pattern of governance and coordination challenges that have hampered this initiative for years.