It all started at the African Development Bank Annual meeting in Busan, South Korea in May this year, when Minister Saffa presented the case for the urgent need to provide affordable, reliable and sustainable electricity for the people of Sierra Leone.

With only 12% of households having access to reliable supply of electricity in Sierra Leone, the Minister said that without electricity, the delivery of the government’s Free Quality Education flagship programme will he seriously hampered.

He stressed the need for sustainable and affordable electricity to develop the health, education and business sectors, and appealed to the Bank to expedite the project preparation and implementation.

The bank’s Vice President reiterated their commitment to expeditiously process the project and indicated that with smooth flow, they can deliver the 50MW in 18-24 months. When completed, the cost of electricity tariff from the solar plant would be less than 8 US cents.