Paper short abstract:

This article takes a historical approach to question the politics behind the planning of the Nyerere hydropower dam in Tanzania for the past six decades and how delays in the construction of the dam keep the communities surrounding earmarked project areas in suspense.

Paper long abstract:

The Rufiji River Basin is one of Tanzania's potential hydroelectric power production areas. Since the colonial period, there was a strong desire to develop the basin for irrigation agriculture, transportation, and hydroelectric power generation. The construction of the hydropower plant did not occur and the postcolonial government up the matter seriously but delayed implementation. Visions for the dam were premised on the country's lack of adequate energy supply and desire to build an industrial base. The Nyerere hydropower dam in the Rufiji Basin was at the center of these desires but decades went by with only plans on paper until 2018 when a political drive set the project in motion. This article takes a historical approach to question the politics behind the planning of the Nyerere hydropower dam in Tanzania for the past six decades. It examines the extent to which imaginations of future inform actors’ responses and how delays keep the people surrounding earmarked project areas in suspense. Contested as it looks, the dam represents local and global pressures on conservation, energy freedom and future making of Tanzania as one of the giant suppliers of electricity in the region.