The
Gambian government has taken a significant step towards improving electricity
supply in the country. The Gambian and
Senegalese national electricity corporations last week signed a memorandum of
understanding that will strengthen energy cooperation between the two
countries. Both nations already enjoy an
especially close relationship since the coming to office of President Barrow in
January this year.
Gambian
Petroleum & Energy Minister Fafa Sanyang recently led a team of officials
to Dakar for meetings with Senegalese counterparts.
Besides
finalising the memorandum of understanding, the national utilities, Société
Nationale d’Électricité de Sénégal (SENELEC) and National Water and Electricity
Company (NAWEC), also initialed a highly concessional draft power purchase
agreement, to be presented for approval by their respective boards for final
signature.
The
power purchase agreement deal will connect cross-border points at Keur Ayib, Karang
and Tamba Kunda. It will see SENELEC
immediately supplying between three to 10 megawatts of electricity to NAWEC,
with the possibility of expansion as the capacity of the network grows.
The
electricity supply from SENELEC will go a long way to complementing NAWEC`s
supply. With this initiative, most parts of rural Gambia are expected to enjoy
access to 24-hour electricity before long. This is a significant milestone in
the Gambian government’s rural electrification programme.
While
in Dakar, Minister Sanyang paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Mahammed
Dione of Senegal. He briefed him on the Gambian government’s aspirations of
sector-wide cooperation between the two ministries of energy and petroleum.
Mr
Sanyang explained that the objective was to align policies and strategies and
mutually defend both countries’ interests as members of several regional
organisations. These include the West Africa Power Pool, the Gambia River Basin
Development Organisation, the Senegalo-Gambia Permanent Secretariat and the
Mauritania-Senegal-Gambia-Guinea-Bissau-Guinea (Conakry) Geological Basin.
Prime
Minister Dione thanked Mr Sanyang and welcomed the initiative. He confirmed the
Senegalese government’s commitment and full support, urging officials on both
sides to take the necessary next steps to expeditiously formalise the
cooperative initiative through diplomatic channels.
Electricity
generation remains a top priority for the Barrow administration, which
inherited less than 50% of the total installed generation capacity within the
greater Banjul area. NAWEC has so far
rehabilitated three of several old and faulty generators, which had down for
almost a year. These generators are currently providing an additional 18
megawatts of power. The company is currently rehabilitating three other
generators of a total capacity of 21 megawatts, and these are expected to come
on line later this year.
NAWEC
will also commission an 11-megawatt new generating set for commercial
operations by the end of December. In the medium term, NAWEC plans to increase
the available generation capacity to 120 megawatts by 2020 through a
combination of public and private investment.
Source:
Office of The President
