Early planning for the dam began in 1972 when the Organization for the Development of the Senegal River (Organisation pour la mise en valeur du fleuve Sénégal, or OMVS) was set up by Mali, Mauritania and Senegal to develop the agricultural and hydropower potential of the basin.

In 1993 Carl–Dieter Spranger, then Germany's minister for development assistance, called Manantali an "act of economic and environmental nonsense".

[2] Citing "contractual difficulties in executing the contract", Eskom has entered into an agreement with SOGEM to terminate it as of 1 October 2011, according to the company's 2011 financial report.

[3] The total cost of the dam, its associated hydropower plant, the deforestation of the future reservoir, studies and "complementary measures" was 1.02bn Euro.

[1] The expected benefits included electricity generation, increased agricultural production through irrigation and improved river navigability.

Second, the national power utilities of the three countries that buy the electricity in bulk regularly pay only about half their bills.

A Hydrology Risk Fund was to be gradually replenished in order to pay for operating costs of the plant in the case of a revenue shortfall due to drought.

[8] The dam has proved controversial for its displacement of 10,000 people from the flooded area, and for its environmental and health-related impacts.

[7] In the irrigated areas the incidence of water-borne diseases such as bilharzia increased substantially, while local fisheries declined sharply.

[1] It has been estimated that about 370,000 people had lived from flood recession agriculture in the Senegal river valley before the dam was built.