Luanda — "The impact of the Capanda Hydroelectric Dam on Biodiversity" was on Monday analysed, in the Republic of Malawi, during a seminar part of a course on the Management of Water Resources and Environment Planning, happening for eight days in the conference room of Victoria Hotel, in Blantyre city.

According to the chief of the Planning and Environment Department of the Angolan Gamek project, Rafael Miguel Neto, who presented the aforementioned topic, four other sub-topics were also discussed under the aforementioned main theme.

The source said the during the address, participants were informed that although Angola has not yet carried out a study on the "environmental impact", programmes of reducing the negative impact on the environment have been carried out.

Topics such as the environmental legislation, environmental protection areas, invading species, tourism, superficial and underground water, infrastructures, development of hydroelectric project, community's role in the management of natural resources, climate change and the assessment of the environment impact, are also been discussed at the workshop.

The participants visited the Kapichira hydroelectric dam, and received practical lessons at the same area, which is situated at 80 kilometres from Blantyre city.

This hydroelectric dam has a capacity of 128 Megawatts (4 turbines of 32MW). It was inaugurated in 2000 and it is still operating the first stage, whilst the second will commence in August 2009.