Kainji Dam is a dam across the Niger River in Niger State of Central Nigeria. Construction of the dam was carried out by Impregilo to designs by Joint Consultants, Balfour Beatty and Nedeco, and began in 1964 to be completed in 1968. The total cost was estimated at US$209 million, with one-quarter of this amount used to resettle people displaced by the construction of the dam and its reservoir, Kainji Lake.
Kainji Dam
Kainji Dam
Flow of water through four openings in the Kainji Dam, 1970–1973.
Overview from the dam of the island in the Niger River with electricity File:pylons, 1970–1973.
The Niger River is the main river of West Africa, extending about 4,180 kilometres. Its drainage basin is 2,117,700 km2 (817,600 sq mi) in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through Mali, Niger, on the border with Benin and then through Nigeria, discharging through a massive delta, known as the Niger Delta, into the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean. The Niger is the third-longest river in Africa, exceeded by the Nile and the Congo River. Its main tributary is the Benue River.
The Pont Kennedy across the Niger at Niamey, early 2019
Commercial activity along the river front at Boubon, in Niger
The great bend of the Niger River, seen from space, creates a green arc through the brown of the Sahel and Savanna. The green mass on the left is the Inner Niger Delta, and on the far left are tributaries of the Senegal River.
Mud houses on the center island at Lake Debo, a wide section of the Niger River