China to lend 700 million dollars for Congo dam

China will lend Congo around 700 million dollars (nearly 520 million euros) to build a hydroelectric dam in its north Sangha region, Congo's energy ministry said.

The loan agreement was signed by Energy Ministry official Ignace Ta-Liane Tchibamba and the vice-president of the Chinese company SinoHydro, Zeng Xingliang.

SinoHydro is due to start construction of the dam in June 2011, which should provide hydroelectric power for the whole northern region of the central African country.

"The total cost of the work has not yet been established.

Currently we estimate it will be approximately 700 million dollars, but this number will be refined", a director in Congo's Energy ministry Jean Marie Iwandza said.

SinoHydro is already active in neighbouring Cameroon and Gabon, and China financed 85 percent of the construction of another dam in north Congo in 2003.