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Spanish building firm ACS pulled out of a multibillion-dollar hydropower project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a decision that’s likely to postpone the long-delayed plan.

The Inga III project is part of Grand Inga, a series of dams intended to harness as much as 40,000 megawatts of power from a stretch of the Congo River. If completed, it’ll be sub-Saharan Africa’s largest hydroelectric plant.

Confirmation of the Madrid-based company’s withdrawal comes after President Felix Tshisekedi signaled that he wants a different design than that favored by his predecessor, Joseph Kabila. ACS was a key member of a Spanish consortium that struck an agreement in October 2018 with Kabila and a group of Chinese companies to draw up plans to build and operate an 11,000-megawatt facility.

“ACS Group will not participate in Inga’s project execution,” a company spokesman said by email on Jan. 20.

The Agency for the Development and Promotion of the Grand Inga Project is still waiting to be “officially” notified about any decision by ACS to withdraw, Communications Director Patrick Kabuya said by text message. Michel Eboma, Tshisekedi’s chief energy adviser, didn’t immediately responded to request for comment.

Tshisekedi, who assumed office a year ago, hasn’t approved a joint proposal submitted in November 2018 by the Spanish and Chinese partners for exclusive rights to finance studies and attract lenders. The president instead says he prefers a smaller 4,800-megawatt plant, an earlier version of the plan that was recently endorsed by African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina. The bank financed feasibility studies for the smaller dam in 2013.

While Tshisekedi says the dam’s capacity could be increased to 11,000 megawatts over time, the Chinese and Spanish groups believe the smaller plant isn’t economically viable.

ACS didn’t provide an explanation for its decision. The other member of the Spanish consortium is AEE Power Holdings SL, while the Chinese group is led by China Three Gorges Corp. ACS and AEE started to pursue the contract to develop Inga III in 2010 and were previously rivals to the Chinese consortium.

(Updates with comment by dam agency in fifth paragraph)

--With assistance from Michael J. Kavanagh and Rodrigo Orihuela.

To contact the reporter on this story: William Clowes in Abuja at wclowes@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Osae-Brown at aosaebrown2@bloomberg.net, Pauline Bax, Paul Richardson

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