His Excellency Ma Jianchum, Chinese Ambassador to The Gambia has expressed delight and appreciation for the commencement of the Greater Banjul Electricity Transmission and Distribution Modernization Project, asserting that the project is a model of fruitful international cooperation.
Ambassador Ma Jianchum made this disclosure at the laying of the foundation stone of the Greater Banjul Area (GBA) Transmission and Distribution Modernization Project held at Sukuta Salagi over the weekend.
“We are delighted to witness that the EPC project of Transmission Infrastructures in the Greater Banjul Area commenced today (it) is a model of International cooperation. The project is planned by the Gambian government, co-funded by the World Bank, European Investment Bank and European Union, designed and constructed by Chinese Companies, furthermore French and Spanish Companies are also involved,” Chinese Ambassador substantiated.
He added: “This demonstrates the strong cooperation of the international community to support the development of The Gambia. I believe that, with the joint efforts and close cooperation of all partners, the implementation of this project will be successful with fruitful results.
According to him, TBEA, Chinese Company contracted for the project is a large scale international energy company and service provider, adding the company is committed to sharing its knowledge of international power technology, manufacturing and construction experiences with the world.
“In Africa, TBEA also has extensive experiences in power transmission and distribution projects. It has successfully completed a lot of high-quality power transmission and distribution projects in Angola, Guinea, Ghana, Togo, Ethiopia, Kenya and so on,” said Ambassador Ma Jianchum.
He added: “I believe, with high-end manufacturing capability, advanced technology and abundant experiences, TBEA will complete the project successfully and hand over to The Gambia a high-quality demonstration project.”
Honorable Fafa Sanyang, Minister of Petroleum and Energy said the laying of the foundation stone for the GBA Transmission and Distribution Project is a milestone towards the implementation of the country’s electricity Road-Map 2017-2025. He noted that that the 225kv transmission line commencing from Brikama to Sukuta will be connected to the OMVG lines in a bit to make electricity accessible and affordable to Gambians.
According to him, the project launched is part of the $164million Gambia Electricity Restoration and Modernisation Project (GERMP), adding that the project is designed to support the implementation of immediate priority investments to restore the delivery of electricity services in targeted municipalities and regional areas and complement fiscal stability efforts.
“The electricity sector Roadmap, approved by Cabinet in 2017, casts a vision to modernize the energy sector for a new Gambia, and move towards 24/7 access to electricity by all Gambians. It identifies short, medium and long-term investment needs to modernize electricity system in The Gambia with emphasis on the restoration of effective and efficient power supply services in the GBA,” said Petroleum and Energy Minister.
He added: “The Project we are inaugurating today clearly manifests the enormous efforts of the government to modernize the transmission and distribution infrastructure in the Greater Banjul Area. It is funded by the World Bank with government contribution of D131million to compensate the affected land and property owners on the right way for the transmission line.”
Other speakers at the event included the Vice President and Managing Director of NAWEC Nani Juwara among others who all expressed their delight and appreciation to the project, noting that this project will improve lives and livelihoods of the people of the Greater Banjul Area and will thus cut the frequent power shortages the country is grappling with.
