By Politico staff writer
Work on the construction of five primary sub-stations in communities in Freetown is set to commence this July through the energy sector utility reform project.
The Communication expert at the Ministry of Energy Austine Luseni told Politico that the project will improve the transmission line threefold and also ensure the construction of five primary substations at Aberdeen, Falcon Bridge, Cline Town, Jui and Waterloo.
The project he said is funded by a 50 million dollar grant from the World Bank with a counterpart fund from the government of Sierra Leone.
He added that it is a six month project which is to be completed by December this year.
Therefore, he said the Ministry and the Bank on Monday 27th June 2022 commenced compensation of Project Affected Persons for a swift commencement of the work.
Speaking at the compensation ceremony, the Deputy Minister of Energy, Dr. Eldred Taylor, described the occasion as symbolic and monumentally historic, saying that the presentation of cheques to affected persons was consistent with implementation safeguards that the ministry had taken into consideration for the proper implementation of the project.
He said the first set of eligible persons had been procedurally or duly verified, and a total of 56 persons having cheques amounting to one hundred and thirty-eight million Leones (le 138,000,000) each, processed.
Dr. Taylor said the entire project had been dedicated to upgrading the aged and technically challenged infrastructure in the Western Area which had compromised the quality of transmission and distribution of electricity.
The Deputy Minister of Energy concluded by saying that the Government of Sierra Leone had received an additional $US 50 million line of credit from the World Bank in 2019 for the implementation of the project through the Energy Sector Utility Reform Project, ESURP.
He said the Government of Sierra Leone was solely funding the compensation aspect of the project for which it had set aside the sum of $US 500,000. The government last week allocated an additional four hundred and twelve billion Leones to the energy sector in the supplementary budget approved by parliament.
Beneficiaries expressed delight at upon receipt of the compensation package and praised the Ministry of Energy for professionally and responsibly handling the process.
Another set of 150 Project Affected Persons would soon receive their compensation, according to the ministry officials.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (01/07/22)
