#Headlines

Kiang electrification brings light, smiles to faces of people

Dec 1, 2020, 11:58 AM | Article By: Sanna Camara

His Excellency, G.V. Srinivas, ambassador of India to Senegal and High Commissioner Designate to The Gambia has said that the electrification project inaugurated in Kiang over the weekend “brings light and smiles to the faces” of thousands of beneficiaries.

The project also increases the productivity, efficiency and standards of living heralding overall prosperity of these people who had been yearning for long.

At the inauguration ceremony, President Adama Barrow extended “sincere thanks and gratitude” to the Government of the Republic of India for providing about $22Mlillion funds for the project through EXIM Bank of India.

Mr Barrow also thanked EXIM Bank of India; the contractor (KEI) and the consultants (Voyants Solutions) for the timely execution of the project despite the challenges that had to be tackled, including the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ambassador GV Srinivas in an article on India-Gambia relations released on Monday described the project as “a Diwali in India-Gambia relations.”

In Indian culture, Diwali is a festival of lights and one of the major festivals celebrated by Hindus, Jains and Sikhs. The festival usually lasts five days and is celebrated during the Hindu lunisolar month of Kartika (between mid-October and mid-November). It is one of the most popular festivals of Hinduism, symbolising the spiritual "victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance.”

“The project of the electricity expansion in the Greater Banjul inaugurated by the President of the Gambia, His Excellency Adama Barrow upgrades, strengthens and expands electricity supply to make it more reliable and provide quality power to the consumers. The project is Diwali in India- the Gambia relations. India has been a steadfast partner of the Gambia in Development Partnership,” the diplomat said.