By Isatou Jawara
The World Bank Managing Director of Operations, Axel Van Trotsenburg, last week visited the Brikama OMVG power plant and national electricity control centre to assess progress there and the Gambia’s energy sector at large.
Speaking at the site during the visit, Mr Axel Van Trotsenburg expressed delight at progress of implementation of The Gambia River Basin Development Organisation (OMVG) project and the energy sector as a whole.
“We need to keep our focus on the long-term development. This is what counts for all the countries and this is key to the transformation of societies,” he said. He, therefore, gave assurance of the World Bank’s continuous support to The Gambia government, saying they can count on the bank.
In his remarks, NAWEC Managing Director, Nani Juwara, explained that The Gambia River Basin Development Organisation is a sub-regional organisation comprising The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, and Senegal and that the overall goal of the OMVG Energy Project is to contribute to the socio-economic development of the member countries of the organisation by increasing the populations’ access to electricity.
“The project will enable energy trade and improve the quality of electricity supply in OMVG member countries by providing renewable and clean energy at a competitive cost,” he disclosed.
In a similar development, MD Juwara and the MD for the World Bank also visited the National Control Centre. Mr. Juwara informed that the centre would be integrating all the transmission and distribution of the network in one location.
He explained that their network was operating manually, but that the National Control Centre is going to allow them to digitalise and make sure they can monitor their system remotely.