Two consortia submitted bids to finance and build the $4.5bm Mphanda Nkuwa dam just downstream from Cahora Bassa on the Zambezi River. Both groups are state companies with political interests in Mozambique which have joined with global construction companies.

One is the big guns of Cabo Delgado: TotalEnergies who are leading the gas development in Cabo Delgado and the state-owned Electricidade de France have joined the Japanese Sumitomo, which is involved in the biggest hydro power scheme in southeast Asia in Indonesia.

The other is two state companies from the region, also involving China. The local partners are Zesco of Zambia and PetroSA, part of the South Africa Central Energy Fund. They are state owned and will want to buy the electricity. They are joined by CECOT, a subsidiary of the major multinational Portuguese construction company Mota-Engil, which is now 32% owned and controlled by China Communications Construction Co, the world's fourth largest builder. Their fourth partner is ETC Holdings Mauritius which appears to be a subsidiary of ETC Holdings in the UK which appears to do a lot of things in Africa with no specialisation.

So it is head to head: French government plus Japan vs Zambian and South African governments plus Portugal and China. This will be a battle to watch.