By Lamin Kujabi
His Excellency President Adama Barrow on Friday, 13th September 2024 received at State House a delegation of council of ministers, led by Elhadj Lansana Fofana, High Commissioner of The Gambia River Basin Development Organisation (OMVG).
The OMVG member states are: The Gambia, Senegal, Guinea and Guinea Bissau.
The delegation was accompanied to State House by Rohey John Manjang, Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources.
After their meeting with the President, the Environment Minister told the press that the OMVG senior team was in the country to brief the President, as Chair of Council of Heads of State of OMVG, about the upcoming heads of state conference. She said the conference should have taken place before but could not due to some other logistical hurdles.
She revealed that a new date is being discussed. The Council of OMVG heads of state, she said, wants to discuss urgent matters of OMVG including the management of the infrastructure.
Elhadj Lansana Fofana, High Commission of OMVG Council of Ministers gave an account of the progress made. “Since October 2021, we have been able to connect the power grids including in Soma and Brikama sub-stations, which were built and commissioned by OMVG. We will facilitate the transmission of power - 50 megawatt - between Senegal and The Gambia”.
He said once the interconnection of power grids among the four member states is complete, it will help facilitate energy transportation to other countries.
Mr Fofana however clarified that an incident in Senegal is causing power supply interruption in The Gambia. He assured that measures are being taken and that the electricity company of Guinea will respect its commitment to supply electricity to The Gambia. He expressed optimism that once the Senegal incident is solved, electricity supply will be restored.
“Once our interconnection is done we will have smooth transmission of electricity to all four member states,” the High Commissioner reassured.
