Historical Perspectives on Electricity Generation in Africa - Swedish Hydropower Constructions in Tanzania in the Era of Development Assistance, 1960s – 1990s

What is technoscience? - Important influences on the presented dissertation

May-Britt Öhman is a Swedish researcher who wrote her dissertation in 2007 on "Taming Exotic Beauties: Swedish Hydropower Constructions in Tanzania in the Era of Development Assistance, 1960s – 1990s". She also collaborated with Prof. Heather J. Hoag, University of San Francisco, who focused in her dissertation on the Rufiji River to publish the article “Turning Water into Power: Debates over the Development of Tanzania’s Rufiji River Basin, 1961-2001.”[(in journal Technology and Culture, July 2008: Heather Hoag and May-Britt Öhman)]

In the present she switched her research focus to indigenous people in Sweden as project leader of the research project “Rivers, Resistance, Resilience: Sustainable Futures in Sápmi and in other indigenous Peoples’ Territories” (6MSEK, FORMAS, 2013-2016).

Approaches

In her research Dr. Öhman used technoscience to "solve riddles":

• IF engineers desire to construct something that works,
  
• IF development assistance is supposed to be helpful, to provide actual development,
  
• IF development assistance is something that we consider expensive use of money,
  
• then HOW COME Sweden in 1970 ventured into a project of constructing a hydropower plant in Tanzania at the cost of 69 billion SEK (about 7 billion €) in bilateral credits – the biggest credit ever in Swedish development assistance?
  
• and HOW COME - with all this money spent - that the hydropower system has severe short comings and negative impacts on environment, agriculture and health?
  

Dr. Öhman used different approaches to research on the malfunctioning of the Tanzanian river water management concerning energy production, agriculture and cultural usage.

1. Sociotechnology: Dr. Öhman likes to explain her work by posing questions. The main question that technoscience tries to find answers for is: Does technology change daily routines? A question as simple as this has a lot of potential for further investigation. What is actually technology? Where does it start and where does it end?
   
2. Feminist technoscience: Feminist technoscience does not only concentrate on the percentage of men and women taken into account in a scientific paper. It aims to be critical to all the aspects of scientific work:
   

- WHAT is academia? What is the position of academia within in the society?

- WHO is academia?

- Whose BODIES inhabit the university? Students? Professors?

- Percentage of women vs percentage of men? Ethnicity? Skin colour? Ability? Geographical background? Creed? Other aspects?

1. Last but not least, a critical view on postcolonial issues is integrated into Dr. Öhmans research to comprehensively explain the situation in Tanzania.
   

Generally, Dr. Öhman critizises the general agreement on what is scientific objectivity - the idea from “the gaze of nowhere”. New discurses on what is scientific critize for example the evolution of today's academia. Historically, men met each other in dinner clubs to discuss what they got involved in. These clubs later were called "royal societies" to emphasize their importance and what was produced in these clubs finally was called science. Today, a critical question on who decides to produce a truth, would get Dr. Öhmans answer that the truth is where the money accumulates.

Scientific papers state that they tell the truth, they are not personalized. The researcher does not say: "I did this and found out this because I am interested in the topic".

Specifically for studying the Kidatu hydropower project the following factors were regarded:

• Individual actors (persons)
• Institutional actors (companies, states, etc.)
  
• Economic context (e.g. Swedish hydropower in export)
• Waters and landscapes involved (Great Ruaha River, Tanzania and other)
• Historic context (liberation from the colonial power)
  

Sources

Most important sources to conduct this type of studies are archives. Dr. Öhman visited the Swedish national archive, the archive of the Swedish development agency SIDA and of the local power producer Tanesco (see slide 47).

Also, qualitative interviews were made and historical communiactions were studied. The interview partner were mostly engineers who worked at the construction of the dams. An example for private communication material that could be studied was the diary of Prof. Reinius (hydrology) wife who travelled with him (see slide 48).

Colonial times in Tanzania

The Rufiji Basin Survey initi had a focus on water usage AND electrification

In 1961 a survey of the Rufiji River Basin was published. After the huge failure of the ground nut scheme, which was an attempt to agricultural modernisation through mechanization in the Rufiji valley, the British colonial government wanted to go ahead with irrigation schemes for agricultural development. At this point the British governor turned to the FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, with a request for a study of the water resources of the Rufiji river basin.

A deal was closed between Tanganyika and FAO in 1955, and a study was initiated with the purpose to produce a scientifically based multi-purpose project. The aim was to develop the river basin through flood control, irrigation and economic development.

At independence from Great Britain (1961) the Tanzanian government wished for development of electricity generation AND management of water resources (mainly for irrigation of agricultural land) and looked for another country as partner in development.

However, as Swedish development assistance and engineers entered the focus on single purpose hydropower – ignoring agriculture. As a consequence, the British dominance in the power sector was replaced by Swedish dominance with the disadvantage that earlier knowledge produced by British colonial officers was disregarded.

Why do you think this happened? Why did the Swedish engineers and development assistance focus on power production only?

Big Dam Era in Tanzania

What was the situation before indepence (1961) and at the time of indepence?

How has it changed, and how is the change related to the transfer from colonial era to the development assistance era?

Big Dam Era, damn 15 meters from crest to foundation

Diesel generating sets are a noisy background noise in many streets in Dar-Es-Salaam, harbour city in Tanzania. Power interruptions are common. As recently as in November 2013 Tanesco, national power utility, announced a power interruption of ten days. This type of news would be a catastrophe in developed countries. Imagine Berlin being out of electricity supply for more than a week! The interruptions were due to a massive maintenance of the gas plant (245 MW) at Songosongo in Kilwa District. Gas fired plants are one of the alternative sources of energy besides hydro power production. (Kagoi, Bashiri: Tanzania: Tanesco Announces Ten Day Power Interruption. In: Tanzania Daily News, 16 November 2013)

What problems can be identified from a sociotechnical perspective?

Shortly, the problems that were found out in the study were: single purpose usage of the river basin, the placement of reservoirs without considering impacts on flora and fauna, the ignorance of evaporation in the hot climate of Tanzania and the ignorance of British colonial knowledge about sedimentation and importance of agriculture.

Main objective of Swedish Development Assistance was to export of Swedish hydropower construction

Sweco succeeded major hydropower export

How do you understand and measure development – world bank – easy to measure electricity as a development

1990 95% hydropower in Tanzania - crisis in nov. 2013 draught, power rationing; schnell allow independent power producer with contract that most expensive way to produce power in Africa (diesel and gas), more efficiently;

Now dead end, every draught has led to a death trap

Also the kettle is driven out, irrigation is not the problem but the mismanagemet of the dams

1955 pamphlet shows how swedn wants to help, never hidden that Swedish taxes were used to pay for Swedish companies

Quote from letter by Swedish engineer working for Sweco, sent to the Swedish development agency, regarding the construction of the Mtera dam, in 1972:

“With its almost complete draw-down and consequent wide muddy shoreline, Mtera reservoir will be of little or no use for fisheries, for settlement or for watering animals, stock or game. Except very occasionally when full, the dam will not even be attractive to look at. Altogether therefore Mtera dam seems justified only to justify the development of Kidatu to its full 200 MW capacity: altogether Mtera dam will be wasteful of water resources and wasteful of good fertile land, 600 km2. – an area the size of Bahi swamp and just as wasteful. Large as it is Mtera dam will not even contain the largest floods which is experienced every 5-6 years. Some alternative to Mtera must be found even if it is more expensive.”

SNASA F1AB 1393: Copy of confidential letter from Mr. Buchanan to Devplan/ Letter from Stig Regnell, SIDA, Dar es Salaam, to SIDA, Stockholm, 19720223. (Slide 29 shows tells more about this story)

Official warnings were sent to SWECO and the SIDA but anyhow the construction went on – unchanged. The Swedish technoscience paradigm transferred to Tanzania states that the construction of largescale hydropower plants were understood as important progress for Tanzania. The state considered the initialization of a national electricity grid as “greater benefit” for the nation. The local inhabitants and indigenous people of the affected regions were made “invisible” by the state. The massai were not taken into account when calculating …, only their kettle because the massai were meant to move to villages. The exploitation of the territory that was done in times of colonialism went on even when independence came.

Swedish internal colonisation

Sapmi is a territory that aussrecken in Sweden, Norway and Finland. Sweden derives a lot of it’s hydropower from exploitating the northern rivers. 10 % of the Swedish power production is generated on Lule river. (please see slides 33 to 42 for further information).