By Nyima Sillah
The World Bank Managing Director of operations, on Tuesday, paid a visit to the Brikama OMVG power plant and national electricity control center to assess the ongoing progress in the energy sector.
Speaking during the visit, Axel Van Trotsenburg, Managing Director of operations at the World Bank expressed delight over the project, saying it “is a pleasure to see the project in implementation and how you making progress in the energy sector to go from about 25,36MW, 210 in a very short period, it is a great indication of AU result but also eagerness to make a result,” he added.
So, “We need to keep our focus on the long-term development this is what counts for all the countries and this is the key to the transformation of societies,” he said. He, therefore, gave assurance of the World Bank’s continuous support to The Gambia government, saying they can count on the bank as they have good cooperation which they would like to continue not only in this area but in other areas.
In his remarks, NAWEC Managing Director, NaniJuwara, revealed that The Gambia River Basin Development Organisation (OMVG) is a sub-regional organisation initiated comprising The Gambia, Guinea Conakry, Guinea Bissau, and Senegal with the overall goal of the OMVG Energy Project to contribute to the socio-economic development of the member countries of the organization by increasing the populations’ access to electricity.
“The project will enable energy trade and improve the quality of electricity supply in OMVG member countries by providing renewable and clean energy at a competitive cost,” he disclosed.
In a similar development, MD Juwara and the MD for the World Bank also visited the National Control Centre, which Mr. Juwara said, that the center would be integrating all the transmission and distribution of the network in one location.
He explained that their network was operating manually, but this National control centre is going to allow them to digitalize and make sure they can monitor their system remotely while noting that it is been funded by the World Bank, EIB, and the UE.
Juwara further signified MD Axel’s visit saying “The coming of the world bank’s MD is to renew the confidence that they have in the Gambia government and that means a lot to us and is a good signal for other donors. This has given us renewed hopes that the objective that we have set for ourselves is just at the corner to achieve.”
