Abstract
The Congo River is the deepest in the world and second-longest in Africa. Harnessing its full hydropower potential has been an ongoing development dream of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and its more powerful regional allies. If completed, the Grand Inga complex near Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC, will be the largest dam project in the world. Its eight separate dams (Inga 1–8) are envisioned to be “lighting up and powering Africa”. Opponents claim, however, that the rewards will be outsourced to corporate mining interests rather than meeting the needs of the local population, and that the project is flawed economically, socially and environmentally. The planned construction of the Inga dams and associated infrastructure has been stuck in limbo since it was mooted in the 1960s; a fantasy rather than a reality. This article attempts to analyse the rivalry underlying the Grand Inga scheme beyond the “pro” and “contra” reports. Embracing Lacanian psychoanalysis and triangulating multiple sources, we seek to unmask Grand Inga as a potent fantasy. Whilst exhibiting its purpose to serve as a screen to protect both proponents of and opponents to the dam from encountering their own self-deception, we conclude the scheme to be at its most powerful whilst the dream remains unfulfilled.
Highlights
The Grand Inga Project is the largest, most powerful and possibly most controversial prospective hydroelectric dam development project ever imagined
We argue that the Inga project, the most illustrious vision of international development and its proponents in and around the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), is an amalgamation of coinhabiting desires
Before we delve into this in-depth analysis, we offer a short review of the history of the Inga dams
Summary
The Grand Inga Project is the largest, most powerful and possibly most controversial prospective hydroelectric dam development project ever imagined. It attempted to reconcile the often inherently contradictory realities of international development and political projects [6] In this field of endeavour an emerging strand of scholars within this post-development domain draw on psychoanalysis to explain why many continue to harbour desires for development. In this line of thought, we postulate that in the case of the dam, it may be of more benefit to the DRC as a fantasy than as a possible reality. That these ideas are so grandiose that they work to hinder the project by their own ambition
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