Lake Cahora Bassa

Cahora Bassa
A partial view of Cahora Bassa from space.
Cahora Bassa Location in Mozambique
Location	Mozambique
Coordinates	15°40′S 31°50′E / 15.667°S 31.833°E / -15.667; 31.833Coordinates: 15°40′S 31°50′E / 15.667°S 31.833°E / -15.667; 31.833
Lake type	Reservoir
Primary inflows	Zambezi River
Primary outflows	Zambezi River
Catchment area	56,927 km2 (21,980 sq mi)
Basin countries	Mozambique
Max. length	292 km (181 mi)
Max. width	38 km (24 mi)
Surface area	2,739 km2 (1,058 sq mi)
Average depth	20.9 m (69 ft)
Max. depth	157 m (515 ft)
Water volume	55.8 km3 (45,200,000 acre·ft)
Surface elevation	314 m (1,030 ft)

The Cahora Bassa lake—in the Portuguese colonial era (until 1974) known as Cabora Bassa, from Nyungwe Kahoura-Bassa, meaning "finish the job"—is Africa's fourth-largest artificial lake, situated in the Tete Province in Mozambique. In Africa, only Lake Volta in Ghana, Lake Kariba, on the Zambezi upstream of Cahora Bassa, and Egypt's Lake Nasser are bigger in terms of surface water.

The Cahora Bassa System started in the late 1960s as a project of the Portuguese in the Overseas Province of Mozambique. Southern African governments were also involved in an agreement stating that Portugal would build and operate a hydroelectric generating station at Cahora Bassa together with the high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission system required to bring electricity to the border of South Africa. South Africa, on the other hand, undertook to build and operate the Apollo converter station and part of the transmission system required to bring the electricity from the South African/Mozambican border to the Apollo converter station near Pretoria. South Africa was then obliged to buy electricity that Portugal was obliged to supply.

During the struggle for independence, construction materials for the dam were repeatedly attacked in a strategic move by Frelimo guerrillas, as its completion would cause the lake to widen so much it would take very long to cross to the other side with their canoes. The dam began to fill in December 1974, after the independence agreement had been signed.

Until 2007 the dam was operated by Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa and jointly owned by Mozambique, with an 18% equity stake, and Portugal, which held the remaining 82% equity. On November 27, 2007 Mozambique assumed control of the dam from Portugal., when Portugal sold to Mozambique most of its 82 percent stake. Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos said Portugal would collect US$950 million (€750 million) from the sale of its part of southern Africa's largest hydropower project. Portugal kept a 15 percent stake, though it planned to sell off another 10 percent at a later stage to an investor that would be proposed by the Mozambican government. Portugal's Prime Minister José Sócrates signed the agreement with the Mozambican government, during an official visit to Maputo. The agreement ended decades of dispute between Portugal and its former territory over the company, called Hidroelectrica Cahora Bassa. The central disagreement was over the handling of the company's estimated US$2.2 billion (€1.7 billion) debts to Portugal. Mozambican authorities argued they had not guaranteed the debt and therefore should not be liable for the payments.