The World Bank recently approved an initial $250 million in financing for the controversial Inga 3 mega dam project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a move that worries civil society organizations. Inga 3 has long been planned as part of the Grand Inga hydropower project, a series of dams at Inga Falls on the Congo River that will eventually generate a total of 42,000 megawatts of electricity. The Inga 1 and Inga 2 dams were built decades ago, and Inga 3 is the next phase of the project, expected to generate 4,800-11,000 MW. “The development of Inga 3’s hydropower will be transformative for DRC,” Bob Mabiala, head of the Agency for the Development and Promotion of Grand Inga (ADPI-DRC), the project developer, said in a press release. Thierno Bah, senior energy specialist at the bank, told Mongabay by email the “Inga site is one of the world’s best renewable energy opportunities in a country that is desperately short of affordable energy. Only 21% of the 100 million population in DRC have access to electricity.” However, Siziwe Mota, Africa program director of the nonprofit International Rivers, told Mongabay that “power from Inga 3 wouldn’t benefit the approximately 80% of Congolese who lack access [to energy], particularly the rural communities,” but will instead be sold to other countries and to foreign mining companies in the DRC. The World Bank approved $73.1 million for Inga 3 in 2014, but suspended funding in 2016, “after the government made unilateral changes to the implementation…This article was originally published on Mongabay