AYV News, March 4, 2025
The Government of Sierra Leone owes at least fifty million United States dollars to Karpowership supplying electricity toFreetown. This was according to the country’s Minister of Finance, Sheku Ahmed Fantamadi Bangura who was speaking during an interview with local journalists over the weekend, while outlining plans to address the financial obligations.
The Ship first entered a contract with Sierra Leone in June 2018, initially contracted to supply 30 megawatts and later increased to 50MW. Furthermore, the supply was expanded to 65MW in 2020 and currently provides 80% of the country’s electricity needs.
The finance minister also acknowledged outstanding debts to other independent power producers, including Transco and CI Energy, which supply electricity to the national grid. He said the government has unbundled the power sector, with private companies handling power generation while EDSA manages distribution, while stressing the need for consumers to pay for electricity usage to ensure the sustainability of the service.
The minister listed the mining sector not integrated into the national electricity grid as one of the challenges, adding that mining companies generate their own power, which according to him has resulted in a lack of predictable, large-scale revenue sources to support the electricity sector.
