BLANTYRE (Reuters) -The World Bank's board of directors has approved a $350 million grant to support a large hydropower storage project in Malawi that will significantly increase the Southern African country's generation capacity.

The World Bank said in a statement late on Thursday that the Mpatamanga Hydropower Storage Project would help supply electricity to over 1 million new households and create thousands of jobs.

The public-private partnership with an expected overall cost of over $1.5 billion will represent the largest foreign direct investment in Malawi's history.

In September 2022 the Malawian government selected a consortium consisting of Electricité de France and SN Malawi BV owned by British International Investment, Norfund and TotalEnergies to lead the project's development and implementation.

The project will have a total generation capacity of 358 megawatts, doubling Malawi's installed hydropower capacity by building two dams along the Shire River between two existing hydropower facilities, according to its website.

(Reporting by Frank Phiri;Writing by Alexander WinningEditing by Tomasz Janowski)