The construction of Kourouba dam, located in Kourouba village, in the Cercle of Kati in Mali is complete. The construction works were carried out by China Geo-engineering Cooperation (CGC).
This marks the completion of Component-1 of the Irrigation Development Programme in the Bani Basin and Sélingué (PDI-BS), a government initiative that is entirely financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) to the tune of about USD 25 million.
Eventually, the PDI-BS will have an impact on nearly 12,000 farms, that’s approximately 1,30,000 people in the intervention zones of Sélingué, Bla/San, and Djenné.
The Kourouba dam will boost activities of farmers, stockbreeders and fishermen, consequently increasing their income and reduce poverty.
The dam is a 272.5 mtr long mobile threshold whose main objective is to raise the water level of Sankarani river to guarantee agriculture on the Maninkoura perimeter which is approximately 1,094 ha and open up access to roads for about 70 km of rural tracks.
The dam will also increase the possibility of outspreading the developed areas of the Office de Développement rural de Sélingué (ODRS) which have an identified potential of 5,000 ha of irrigable land.
The Kourouba dam will also contribute to the improvement of access to electricity. It will be integrated into Kourouba hydropower plant, which is equipped with 12 VLH turbines totalising an installed capacity of 3.9 MW.
The power plant will eventually bring energy to about 20,000 people in the Kourouba region.