By Kemo Cham
The Japanese government is exploring possible ways to intervene in Sierra Leone’s decrepit energy sector.
A high level delegation from the government of the East Asian nation ended a week-long visit to the West African country over the weekend as part of this mission. The delegation, which was headed by the Ghana-based Japanese Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Mr. Tsutomu Himeno, held talks with several government officials, including officials at the presidency and the Ministry of Finance.
On Wednesday November 27 the delegation met with officials of the Ministry of Energy where discussions were held around the intervention of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in the energy sector.
A spokesman for the Energy Ministry told Politico that the visit of the Japanese delegation was a response to a request made by President Julius Maada Bio for the intervention of the Japanese government.
Sierra Leone has one of the lowest rates of electricity access in the world at below 20 percent. The problem is both incapacity to generate and a poor transmission and distribution infrastructure.
President Bio, during his visit, according to the Energy Ministry, requested for the installation of a 100MW generator in the country.
According to a press statement from the Energy Ministry, the Japanese officials have advised against installation of a 100MW generators, and instead to work on the dilapidated Transmission and Distribution system and then install solar mini grids as alternative power sources.
Energy Minister Alhaji Kanja Sesay was quoted saying the visit by the Japanese illustrated their commitment to fulfill their promise to President Bio.
Japan and Sierra Leone have recently stepped up efforts to strengthen bilateral ties, starting with the high profile visit by President Bio in August 2019 to Japan as part of the Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 7).
During that visit, the two governments signed an agreement on Technical Cooperation and Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers Program. Based on the agreement, JICA Sierra Leone Field Office was upgraded to JICA Sierra Leone Country Office effective 1st October 2019.
The JICA field office was first established in Sierra Leone in 2004.
The transformation to a Country Office means that the JICA office in Sierra Leone will now operate independently of the JICA office based in Ghana.
Ambassador Himeno was quoted at the ceremony marking the transformation of the JICA office on November 26 saying: “The new JICA Sierra Leone Country Office is expected to play important role to promote technical cooperation and to derive mutual benefits from the acceleration of the economic and social development assistance programs of the Government of Japan in Sierra Leone in the areas of Energy, Education, Health, Rural Water Supply, and Agriculture sectors.”
Sierra Leone hopes to leverage this growing relationship to solve some of its development challenges. Notable is its energy sector.
The Energy ministry is now expected to develop a concept paper on the alternative project for submission to the Japanese government for action.
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