In December the president visited Woleu-Ntem to launch a hydropower project that is expected to electrify 190 villages in the region. Mr Bongo inaugurated work on a hydroelectric dam in Mitzic on the river Okano, which is due to be operational by 2013 with a generating capacity of 40 mw. Construction will be carried out by a French firm, EDTE, at an estimated of cost of CFAfr21bn (US$40m), financed by a French bank, BNP Paribas. Woleu-Ntem is a region in which most villages lack electricity supply, so the new dam will be welcomed. However, as most of the country lacks mains electricity supply, sceptical local commentators have concluded that Woleu-Ntem was selected for investment for political reasons-the region is an opposition heartland, and the project will help to curry support for the government in the run-up to the 2011 legislative poll. Whether or not the choice of Woleu-Ntem is politically expedient, the government has ambitious long-term plans to increase national energy production from current levels of around 350 mw to 3,000 by 2030, so investment projects are likely to be announced elsewhere in the coming months.