Sierra Leone News: Bo and Kenema to get 24-hr power

Business

Fifteen years ago, Bo and Kenema enjoyed adequate power supply even more than the capital Freetown, from the Dodo Hydro Dam, but after an increase in population and over time, the Hydro Dam has dwindled, which has resulted in severe electricity crisis. According to the counterpart Director General in the Electricity Supply and Distribution Authority (EDSA), Milton Gegbai, in a meeting with international and local bidders, he noted that government has signed a contract with the Western African Power Pool (WAPP) to provide 24-hour electricity for the people of Kenema and Bo districts. The West Africa Power Pool is a cooperation of the national electricity companies in Western Africa under the auspices of the Economic Community of West Africa States. The members of WAPP are working towards establishing a reliable power grid for the region and common market for electricity, which was founded in 2000. He said WAPP have their group called Transco, which is constructing a 225kv interconnector network, adding that the network is coming from Ivory Coast running through Liberia and entering into Sierra Leone and ending in Guinea. This project will help reduce the cost of electricity supply at the utility level for Liberia and Sierra Leone and increase the amount of electricity traded amongst all the participating countries. It will also help increase the technical integration of the WAPP network. “The first substation will be in Kenema”, which means they will receive power before Bo. He stressed that in order for them to be able to utilise power and make profit is the reason the country’s development partners like DFID and African Development Bank came to the aid of the government. He underscored that the network that was supporting both districts has taken 30 years, and does not have the necessary strength to provide frequent power to those districts, while the government is losing a lot of revenue. The senior M & E Officer in the National Procurement, Authority Andrew Samuel, said they will be working very hard to have a clear picture of the companies that will bid for such a contract, adding that they will check if they have the right credentials to bid for such a contract which is key to the country.

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