African Development Bank (AfDB) president Donald Kaberuka at the weekend said that the financial institution would consider stumping up further funding to South African power utility Eskom, and that there was "no doubt" that the Grand Inga hydropower project would happen "soon".

AfDB had already loaned $1,6-billion to Eskom for the construction of the Medupi coal-fired power station in Lephalale, in Limpopo province, and had "full confidence in the financial sustainability of Eskom", Kaberuka told Engineering News Online.

"What's important is South Africa, as the regional powerhouse, must have energy for its own economy - for its mining sector - but also to feed into the power pools of the region. If South Africa doesn't have enough power, it is [also] Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, and Namibia," he said on the sidelines of the World Energy Congress in Montreal.

"I'm confident that Eskom is a financially sustainable company going forward."

Cash-strapped Eskom had previously said it would have to delay the Kusile coal-fired power station being built near Emalahleni, in Mpumalanga province.

The South African government may provide the power utility with further debt guarantees if required, Bloomberg quoted the National Treasury director-general as saying last week.

Asked if the AfDB would consider providing funding for Kusile specifically, Kaberuka said: "I'd consider any project which is financially viable, which makes economic sense, and which helps South Africa close the energy gap. It is critically important that we do that."

Kaberuka said that energy projects were absorbing one-half of the AfDB's financing, and that this was still not enough.

He said that less than one-fifth of the continent's hydropower potential had been tapped.

Offering the biggest potential was the Grand Inga project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but little progress had been made thus far.

Still, Kaberuka was upbeat about its future.

"There are issues to be resolved, but there is no doubt in my mind that Grand Inga will happen soon," he said, without saying by when.