Minister Kanja Sesay told AYV recently that despite the huge progress being made by the contractor, the spate of theft of construction materials has the tendency to delay the project.
The West African Power Pool (WAPP) project, conceived in 2013, is an ECOWAS initiative which seeks to increase access to energy for citizens of the respective countries by linking member countries with higher power generation capacities to those with lower generation capacities.
Alhaji Kanja Sesay further informed AYV that the World Bank-funded project is being implemented in groups, with Sierra Leone belonging to the group that includes Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea and Liberia. A total of 56 towers and three sub power stations, the minister added, are being constructed in Sierra Leone alone, in the three districts of Tonkolili in the north, Kenema and Kono in the east.
Sources at the Ministry of Energy say the contractor had complained of a theft of materials in the northern flank of the country, in Bumbuna Town, where one of the sub-stations is being constructed. “Our concern about this is that each time they steal any material it takes a month or two to replace it,” Minister Kanja Sesay lamented.
On the other hand however, the Minister of Energy used the opportunity to prevail on Sierra Leoneans to support the government of President Bio achieve the New Direction campaign promises it made to the people in 2018.
