Reacting to the Anti Corruption Commission’s (ACC) report on faulty lines in a flawed and costly contract with the Income Electrix, Samuel Asuva Ipota, Country Manager of Income Electrix has said that ‘we came to Sierra Leone to fulfill President Koroma’s dream of restoring electricity in the country.
At a press conference held at the Sierra Leone News Agency (SLENA), Samuel Ipota said that they were given the mandate to operate in order to salvage the electricity problem facing the country.
He added that, “the contract was for the provision of 25Mega Watts (MW) of continuous power to be delivered at two sites designated by the National Power Authority (NPA)”.
Ipota disclosed that the government cannot afford 25 MW, adding that the 25MW was reduced to 10MW that is currently running in Black Hall Road.
Samuel pointed out that the contract is for a period of three years, but up till now they have not received any money from the government since the start of the contract last year.
He maintained that, the cost of mobilization and installation of the two plants, which must be met by NPA, is $ 2.45 million, adding that all duties, taxes, charges or any legislative modification with financial implications on the contract should be wavered by NPA or the government.
Mr Ipota furthered that, their machines are new and their contract is cheaper than the Global Trading Group (GTG) at Kingtom which is supplying the western area.
On the part of the ACC report that the contract is dubious, he said that the contract is not dubious; but due to the pronouncement made by President Koroma that by December 20 Freetown would light up, we flew in 10 MW machines and the balance 15MW came later by sea .
The uninstalled 15 MW, he said, is in Wellington waiting for NPA to allocate the site for it to operate for the supply of electricity to the East End of Freetown. Ipota also disclosed that they imported modern cables and joining kits which they supplied to NPA to improve its capacity to transport power from both Kingtom and Blackhall Road to consumers.
He stated that they strongly believe they have been unfairly treated and further request the ACC to review its report after giving them a chance to be heard.
By Abibatu D. Kamara
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