By Mabinty Kamara
The Minister of Energy, Alhaji Kanja Sesay has expressed concerns over what he referred to as “worrying reports” about the adverse impact of human activities such as deforestation and farming that have posed a threat to the survival and efficiency of the Bumbuna Hydroelectric Dam that serves the city and some parts of the northern region.
Speaking at a meeting with chiefdom authorities and other cabinet ministers that had accompanied him on a conducted tour of the facility on Thursday 22nd July 2021, he said he was particularly disturbed when the SALINI Plant Manager told him that those activities were responsible for the drop in water levels.
Minister Sesay also spoke about the Bumbuna Phase II Project which he said was in its design stage and which upon its completion would generate a staggering 143 megawatts.
He added that the Bumbuna Hydroelectric Dam only generates a maximum of 50 megawatts at the height of the rainy season and usually drops to as low as 8 megawatts during the dry season. He said despite the seasonal drop in water levels, Makeni and Magburaka in the North had always enjoyed electricity.
The 50MW Bumbuna hydroelectric power plant is located on the Seli River in the Tonkolili district north of Sierra Leone. The first phase of the project was launched in November 2009 to provide a consistent, inexpensive and clean source of energy for the region. The plant which was built with an investment of $327M plays a critical role in the electricity demands of Freetown in the West, and other places in the northern region.
However, the government had in June 2018 contracted a Turkish company Karpowership that provides electricity from a ship berthed offshore Kroo Bay that complements Bumbuna hydro supply especially in the dry season when the water level is low.
However, the minister said Karpowership was more expensive to run than the government -owned dam.
Welcoming the ministers and other stakeholders at the meeting, Paramount Chief of Dansogoia Chiefdom, Alimamy Bockarie Yallah Koroma III said that he had held fruitful discussions with the minister during his previous visit to the area, and assured of their commitment as stakeholders in the chiefdom to cooperate with the government in the critical area of electricity.
Minister of Environment, Professor Foday Jaward said electricity was critical to national development everywhere in the world, stressing that it was therefore imperative that the government and stakeholders in the chiefdom address the menace collectively. He noted the need for coordination of efforts in relocating people.
Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Tamba Lamina, said they had called different chiefdom stakeholders to the meeting because they saw them as actors in the formulation and implementation of policies aimed at reversing a worrisome trend.
Copyright © Politico Online
