The Bumbuna Hydroelectric project which was started in April 1975 by the All Peoples Congress (APC) has been pre-commissioned by President Ernest Koroma yesterday at the Kingtom Bumbuna substation in Freetown.
This ceremony took place on the 2nd anniversary of President Koroma’s election to the presidency.
In his statement, President Koroma said that the event put away the suspicion of our people about the coming on of Bumbuna.
He added that, “it is a blessing that the same party that began the project is the same that has ended it” adding that the project has been in progress for the last 35 years.
He recalled that in April during his radio broadcast to the nation he did said that the construction of the Bumbuna dam is almost completed.
Smiling, he stated that, “the power from Bumbuna will gradually increase the electricity supply in the country”, but urged people to be patient with the interruption of electricity supply they will observe due to the testing that is still in progress.
He reiterated that his government has provided funds to improve on the Transmission and Distribution (T&D) network to increase the power supply from Bumbuna.
“My commitment to the Bumbuna project has been total and unwavering” he said, adding that this commitment is based on his personal conscience that electricity will increase the standard of living of people.
To underscore my commitment he said, “I have visited Bumbuna more times than all the other past Presidents”.
He thanked everyone for the patience they have exercised over the past three decades, admonishing them to protect every national asset and infrastructures.
He however, warned all those who are engaged in the abstractions of electricity to stop it or risk the full penalty of the law.
President Koroma said that the funding for Bumbuna was provided by donors and they are watching to see how we could manage it.
In his remarks, Minister of Energy and Water Resources, Professor Ogunlade Davidson said that in 1961 when he was a first year student at Fourah Bay College (FBC) he was asked to do a feasibility study on Bumbuna, little did he know that it will be commissioned under his leadership as Minister. He underscored his Ministry’s commitment to supply electricity to the country. Minister of Information and Communication Alhaji IB Kargbo who chaired the ceremony gave a brief background of how the Bumbuna project started under the President Siaka Stevens. He said that late President Stevens started the journey and President Koroma ended it.
I.B. Kargbo said that the pre-commission ceremony equates to the day late President Stevens declared the Aberdeen bridge open.
By Abibatu Kamara