National Water and Electricity Company (NAWEC) on 6 September 2011 handed over the first phase of the $22M energy expansion project to contractors in Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC) at a ceremony held at Abuko.
The national water and electricity company officials at the meeting urged communities and contractors to ensure proper wiring.
Speaking at the ceremony, Nani Juwara, commercial director of NAWEC, told the gathering that the project is worth more than six hundred million dalasis.
Mr Juwara called on residents to employ qualified electricians in wiring their homes to avoid damages. “It is important to make better use of the electricity when it is available,” said Juwara, while urging the general public to apply for metres for their homes.
The project, he added, will not stop at the expansion of electricity supply but will also look at rehabilitating poles and wires for better supply of current in the municipality. He thanked the president, contractors as well as the people of Abuko for supporting the project.
For his part, Mayor Yankuba Colley of KMC expressed gratitude to President Jammeh for the project, adding that Abuko was a place of concern in the municipality.
He underscored the importance of the project in the region, urging the communities to cooperate as some trees have to be cut down during the project implementation.
The politician could not hide his feeling, when he emphasised that this project is part of politics.
He further called on the residents to vote in elections as patriotic citizens and that any area that comes out first in the upcoming election will be hosting their divisional party.
“Lots of developments are in the pipeline,” Mayor Colley assured the people.
Other speaks on the occasion included Alhagi Boto Tamba, Alkalo of Abuko; Lang Sabally, project coordinator of NAWEC, and Aja Sally Sidibeh, counselor of Abuko Ward.