Eskom Holdings Ltd of South Africa In Freetown On Energy and Power Talks

A five-man delegation of the Board of ESKOM Holdings Ltd. of South Africa has held discussions with President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and Vice President Solomon Berewa on the way-forward for improving electricity supply in the country. The delegation is in Sierra Leone on a fact-finding mission to see how their company can help Sierra Leone improve on the provision of electricity supply in the country.

Briefing the delegation on the energy situation in the country, President Kabbah told his guests that the energy situation is in serious problems as electricity supply apart from being inadequate, is quite unreliable.

President Kabbah said that at the end of the war, the government has been trying very hard to kick-start the economy, but this can never be done effectively without energy supply. He explained that the capital needs about 33 megawatts to have twenty-four hours electricity for Freetown alone, but can only boast of a ten to twelve megawatts supply due to the state of the machines currently in use. To cope with daily electricity supply, the National Power Authority (NPA) has had to resort to rationing power supply to the city, which is very unsatisfactory. The President said that NPA has about four to five machines, with an average age of about 10-15 years , and lamented that even the machine that was bought two years ago with funds from the World Bank worked only for three months. Since then, it has been giving problems all the time. This notwithstanding, customers also do not pay their bills regularly, and so the NPA have resorted to installing pre-paid meters again. President Kabbah also spoke about the need to look at the human resources capacity to manage the NPA and the need for management capacity building.

Giving an overview of efforts government has been making to address the energy situation, the President told his audience about the Bumbuna Hydro-electric Project that is in the pipeline, and which is expected to be ready in fifteen months' time but added that only phase one will be completed and it will only generate fifty megawatts. Phase II when completed, in addition to phase I will altogether generate a total of one hundred and fifty megawatts.

He said that the Bumbuna Dam when completed will supply Freetown and some parts of the Northern Province but added that they need funds to do phase II of the project, which will cost less than the first phase.

President Kabbah also spoke about the Bikongo project, which is another hydro-electric project that will be located in the southeastern part of the country. The Bikongo Project, he said, has been designed to produce about ninety-five megawatts which will address the power needs of the southern and eastern parts of the country. The President informed the Eskom delegation that the Chinese have agreed to fund the project but all they need is a guarantor for which the African Development Bank and World Bank have been approached.

President Kabbah also spoke about the European Union study on Rural Electrification. He said the government wants to address the energy situation in a holistic way, once and for all.

Speaking on behalf of ESKOM Holdings Ltd., the Chief Executive, Mr. Togani Kanpeshi, thanked the President and his Ministers for the hospitality shown to them since their arrival and said they were sent here by their government to assess the Sierra Leone situation and report back to their Minister.

Mr. Kanpeshi said ESKOM Holdings is a Utility that has been in business for about seventy-seven years, and provides 42,000 megawatts of electricity to three and a half million customers. He said they are working with other utilities on the continent.

Mr. Kanpeshi explained to President Kabbah that their Company intervenes in energy provision from three different levels. Firstly, they can come in on a Management Contract, where they will have to bring in key staff to assist in the management of the utility. Secondly, they can come in to refurbish the infrastructure as they have a subsidiary within the company that is responsible only for that, and thirdly they can intervene as Consultants to design and come up with technical solutions. He said ESKOM's intervention will depend on the proposal the government will put forward, stating the areas of intervention. Mr. Kanpeshi said that whatever their findings are on this assignment will be reported back to their Minister on their return.

At the talks were the Minister of Energy and Power, Mr. Emmanuel Grant, who introduced the members of the delegation to President Kabbah, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr. Momodu Koroma, the Presidential Affairs Minister, Dr. Sheku Sesay, Secretary to the President Sheka Mansaray, the General Manager of NPA, Mr. Foday Mannah and other high-ranking government officials.

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