Sierra Leone’s Bumbuna Hydro power plant project receives another $7.5 million USD

The project which was originally conceived in 1970 and has thus far swallowed hundreds of millions of dollars according to some experts still remains uncompleted to this day. While it lies in the North away from the diamond producing regions and Freetown which played host to a great deal of the fighting during the civil war in Sierra Leone, the conflict caused construction of the dam to grind to a halt. The war also damaged or destroyed most of the countries power generation infrastructure.

The dam and the power it would generate is desperately needed in the country as the alternative is to important expensive oil, a difficult task given the low foreign cash reserves of the country.

The money could be used to complete transformers needed for transmission lines to provide the power to Freetown where most of it is needed.  90% of the power in Sierra Leone is consumed by the four major cities, which are currently hit by major blackouts. This would change with hydropower facility. Reliable power is also seen as a major factor towards raising the quality of life and alleviating poverty.

The plant will also allow for a displacement of 179,600 tons of CO2 per year, which could more than double if the project were to be fully developed. Sierra Leone could thereby meet it’s Kyoto Protocol targets and engage in carbon trading bringing much needed foreign money into the nation.

Thus far financiers for the project amongst others have been the International Development Association, African Development Bank, Government of Italy, Netherlands Clean Development Facility, OPEC Development Fund, and Commercial Bank/ IDA Guarantee with a total 92 million USD going to the project.

For additional information:

http://www.bumbuna.com/