On the surface, the Julius Nyerere Hydropower Plant (JNHP) is a story of achievement: 2,115 megawatts feeding into the national grid, a doubling of Tanzania’s generation capacity, and a rare instance of a mega-project completed under national direction. But this is only the visible part of the story.
The deeper test will not be measured in megawatts alone, but in decades of operational reliability, fiscal prudence, and public trust. Mega-energy projects are not just infrastructure; they are long-term institutions in their own right, requiring governance structures as robust as their concrete walls. Without them, even the most impressive construction can quickly become an underperforming asset.
Why Governance Matters for Mega-Projects
Mega-projects concentrate vast amounts of capital, political will, and public attention. They can transform economies or drain them, depending on how they are managed. The risks are well-known: cost overruns, opaque contracting, quality compromises, and political interference that favors short-term optics over long-term performance.
Good governance is not a bureaucratic afterthought; it is an economic safeguard. Strong oversight, transparent procurement, and publicly available performance data can multiply the value of a project, attracting investors, strengthening fiscal stability, and building confidence in national institutions. For JNHP, governance quality is directly linked to Tanzania’s energy security, fiscal health, and industrial competitiveness.
JNHP’s Governance Context: Strengths and Gaps
One of JNHP’s defining features is its financing model: nearly 100% of the official US$2.9 billion cost was covered from domestic revenue. This avoided the debt burdens and external conditionalities that have slowed or complicated other African mega-projects. It gave Tanzania control over design, contracting, and construction timelines, critical levers in keeping the project moving.
Yet domestic financing also concentrates risk in the national budget, making strong internal oversight non-negotiable. Political commitment has been high, with regular public progress updates and top-level reviews. However, transparency is uneven. Contract terms, detailed budget breakdowns, and environmental compliance data have not been systematically disclosed, limiting the ability of Parliament, civil society, and the public to verify value for money independently.
The broader energy sector’s administrative and procurement challenges add another layer of concern. Without targeted governance reforms, these systemic weaknesses could follow JNHP into its operational phase, eroding efficiency and long-term returns.
The Risks of Opacity
When a project is as large, visible, and politically significant as JNHP, the temptation to control information is high. But opacity in a mega-energy project comes with costs that accumulate quietly until they become crises.
Financial Risks: Without transparent reporting on expenditures, cost overruns can be absorbed into the budget without scrutiny. This erodes fiscal discipline and can mask inefficiencies or inflated contracts. For a domestically funded project like JNHP, every hidden overrun directly reduces budgetary space for other national priorities.
Operational Risks: Hydropower plants require meticulous maintenance schedules, timely procurement of spare parts, and performance monitoring. In the absence of public and parliamentary oversight, operational lapses can go unnoticed until they cause significant downtime or costly repairs.
Political Risks: A lack of openness can shift the project’s role from economic asset to political symbol. In such cases, decisions regarding tariffs, maintenance spending, or operational upgrades may be driven by electoral timelines rather than economic logic, undermining long-term performance.
Opacity not only conceals problems but also fosters an environment where issues are more likely to arise. Without accessible, verifiable data on costs, contracts, performance, and environmental compliance, neither Parliament nor the public can hold project managers accountable. And without accountability, the incentives to deliver maximum value diminish.
Global Best Practices
The governance challenges facing JNHP are not unique; other countries have grappled with similar high-stakes projects, and their experiences offer valuable lessons.
Kenya’s Lake Turkana Wind Project is one example where transparency bolstered investor confidence. The project published key contract terms, financing structures, and environmental assessments early, which helped attract private sector participation and reduced disputes during implementation. This openness created a level of certainty that allowed the project to reach commercial operations despite its complexity and remote location.
Namibia’s Kudu Gas Project, on the other hand, illustrates the risks when governance falters. Weak scope definition, shifting objectives, and inconsistent oversight led to delays, rising costs, and ultimately investor withdrawal. The lack of clear accountability channels made it challenging to course-correct when problems emerged.
The contrast between these two projects underscores a simple principle: transparency is not just a compliance exercise, it is a strategic asset that can make or break the financing, delivery, and long-term operation of extensive energy infrastructure.
What Tanzania Can Do Now
To safeguard JNHP’s value and reputation, Tanzania can take immediate, actionable steps:
- Establish an Independent Oversight Board
Create a dedicated body to monitor JNHP’s financial, operational, environmental, and social performance. Membership should include technical experts, civil society representatives, and independent auditors. - Mandate Public Performance Reporting
Publish annual reports covering power generation, revenue, operating costs, and environmental compliance. This should include precise, comparable data to track year-on-year trends. - Strengthen Audit and Parliamentary Review
The Controller and Auditor General (CAG) should conduct regular audits of JNHP and present findings to Parliament, with a requirement for government response and follow-up action. - Engage Stakeholders Continuously
Civil society, local communities, and the media should have regular access to project data and be consulted on operational and environmental issues, ensuring ongoing legitimacy and trust.
By institutionalizing these practices, Tanzania can turn JNHP into a governance benchmark for future mega-projects, serving as an example of how to combine scale with transparency to achieve sustainable development outcomes.
The Long-Term Value of Good Governance
Strong governance is not a cost; it is an investment in the durability of public assets. For a project like JNHP, the operational lifespan could exceed 50 years, long enough to span multiple administrations, economic cycles, and market changes. Transparent systems, independent oversight, and predictable accountability mechanisms ensure that the project’s performance does not depend solely on political goodwill.
Over time, good governance yields tangible economic benefits:
- Fiscal Stability: Avoiding hidden costs and overruns preserves budget space for other priorities.
- Investor Confidence: Demonstrating disciplined oversight attracts domestic and foreign capital to other projects.
- Operational Reliability: Transparent maintenance and upgrade plans extend asset life and reduce unexpected downtime.
- Climate Finance Access: Donors and climate funds increasingly require evidence of transparency and governance capacity before committing support.
In this way, governance becomes a competitive advantage not only for JNHP but for Tanzania’s infrastructure portfolio as a whole.
Trust Is the Real Power
Mega-energy projects like JNHP are about more than just megawatts. They are about the systems we establish to manage them — systems that outlast political cycles, withstand public scrutiny, and provide consistent value to citizens.
The physical structure of the dam may be immovable, but its economic and social impact is shaped daily by the decisions made in boardrooms, ministries, and control rooms. Those decisions, in turn, are shaped by the governance environment: the rules, the oversight, and the transparency that either protect or erode public trust.
If JNHP is to be remembered as a national triumph rather than a missed opportunity, governance must be treated as part of its infrastructure. Concrete and turbines generate electricity, but it is trust built through openness and accountability that will create lasting prosperity.