AYV News, October 5, 2023
The Minister of Energy, Alhaji Dr. Kanja Sesay, has in his maiden appearance at the weekly government press briefing held in the conference room of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has outlined several gains his Ministry has made over the years.
He first spoke about energy mix which has seen several players come into the sector to support the national grid including the Karpower ship, CLSG, Bumbuna hydro and thermal engines.
Government, the Energy Minister underscored, has also made tremendous strides in the Mini Grid sector as over 80 villages and towns in the country now enjoy clean solar energy.
Minister Kanja Sesay explained that with the diverse sources of electricity currently available, access to electricity has increased considerably.
“Through a World Bank assessment study, access to electricity in Sierra Leone has increased from 16% in 2018 to 36% in 2023. This is mainly as a result of increase power purchase from the Karpower ship and the coming of the CLSG light,” Alhaji Dr. Kanja Sesay said.
In an effort to provide sustainable electricity in the country, the Energy Minister informed that President Dr. Julius Maada Bio’s excellent leadership has earned the country the MCC Compact. “This Compact will purely focus on energy development. We are expecting about $500 million to be injected into the energy sector to drive economic growth.”
He assured the public that once the MCC Compact is available the nation will experience more improvement in electricity access.
Minister Kanja Sesay also disclosed ongoing projects nationwide such as the Mini Grids, Seven Districts Electrification Project, Bo-Kenema Network Rehabilitation, Western Area Power Generation Project, Bumbuna 2 and Bekongor.
He called on citizens to be watch dogs in their communities to help curb electricity theft as, according to him, government has expended huge amount of money in terms of subsidies on the operations of EDSA due to electricity theft.
“If citizens stop stealing light, EDSA revenue will increase and there will be no reason for tariff increase,” he concluded.
