In October 2022, the Tanzanian President, H.E. Samia Suluhu Hassan, visited the site of «The Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project (JNHPP)» and signaled the closure of the diversion tunnel, which redirected the Rufiji River back to its mainstream through the lower gates of the main dam after the impounding. The surplus of the annual average river discharge, exceeding 28 billion cubic meter average, will create a new reservoir of nearly 34 billion cubic meters maximum capacity covering 158,000 square kilometers (about twice the area of South Carolina) of catchment area including numerous springs, streams, and tributaries.

The Egyptian joint venture of «ELSEWEDY ELECTRIC» and «The Arab Contractors» has completed the construction of the main dam’s Rolled Compacted Concrete (RCC) works with a maximum height of 190 meters above sea level, on a 20,000 square meter foundation area, and a 1,033-meter crest. Afterward, the joint venture commenced the impounding preparations, including the installation and testing of the giant gates at the diversion tunnel and the three power tunnels in addition to the lower gates in the main dam, which will maintain the minimum ecological discharge to conserve the environment downstream of the dam. Last week, the joint venture demolished the cofferdams upstream and downstream of the main dam, in parallel to ongoing installation, works for the large Francis vertical turbines that can produce annually approximately 6,307 Gigawatt-hour of low-cost energy in Tanzania.