-Under CLSG Rural Electrification Project
The African Development Bank (AfDB) Liberia Country Manager, Mr. Benedict S. Kanu has disclosed that the CLSG Rural Electrification Project will supply power to rural communities including households, schools, health centers, small handicrafts, commercial and industrial businesses, and at least 22,000 households will be electrified under the project.
Mr. Kanu said that the CLSG Rural Electrification Project, a sub-component of the CLSG interconnection project is designed to electrify about 30 communities located alongside the CLSG transmission line.
Mr. Kanu made the pronouncement recently when he spoke at the official launch of the Regulatory Database Management System (RDBMS) held at the E.J.S Ministerial Complex in Congo Town.
Speaking at the occasion, the AfDB Country Manager also disclosed that US$95 million has been allocated to Liberia’s energy sector.
According to him, of the US$400 million country portfolio of the AfDB to Liberia about 28% or US$95 million has been allocated to the energy sector of Liberia.
He highlighted that presently, the AfDB is actively involved in three major energy projects across Liberia emphasizing that the Bank has been at the forefront of mainstreaming electricity regulatory issues within the broader power discourse of Africa.
Speaking on the AfDB major projects implementation in Liberia, Mr. Kanu indicated that the Renewable Energy for Electrification in Eastern Liberia (REEL), project is co-financed under the Scaling-up Renewable Energy Program in Low-Income Countries (SREP) is a targeted program of the Strategic Climate Fund (SCF) which aims to install a Hydro Plant at Gbedin Waterfall in Nimba County.
According to him, the Hydro Plant at Gbedin Waterfall will generate approximately 9MW along with the construction of distribution networks to provide electricity to the surrounding areas.
The AfDB Country Manager further mentioned that the power plant will be located on the St. Paul River in Nimba County and will connect to the existing cross-border line between Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire which is expected to electrify about 100,000 households.
Further speaking on the AfDB major projects in Liberia, Mr. Kanu said that through the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) they are sponsoring two significant projects, the Liberia Energy Efficiency and Access Project (LEAP) co-financed with the European Union under the Africa Infrastructure Trust Fund.
He maintained that LEEAP is constructing a transmission and distribution system in the corridors of the Robert International Airport (RIA) and Pleebo Fish Town in Maryland and River Agee Counties.
“The project’s objective is to supply power to the communities located in the RIA corridors that are from Monrovia to Schefflin, Roberts Field including households, schools, health centers, commercial and industrial businesses,” he noted.
Meanwhile, Mr. Kanu affirmed the Bank’s commitment to continue supporting soft infrastructure initiatives such as the projects to complement the hard infrastructure in the energy sector such as the power plants and transmission lines towards the attainment of universal access to electricity in Africa as envisaged under the Bank’s New Deal on Energy for Africa (NDEA) and the Sustainable Development Goals 7.
“The Bank’s initiative underscores the efforts to support its Regional Member countries to improve the quality and effectiveness of energy regulation using bespoke and one-stop-shop solutions to address identified regulatory brittleness and create an enabling environment that can promote and attract investment into the energy sector,” he asserted.
The Regulatory Database Management System launched by the Liberia Electricity Regulatory Commission (LERC) is a new web app that is intended to collect data from licensed operators and the public in the discharge of the LERC mandate. These include financial and accounting, technical, operational, and commercial data from utility service providers as well as handling consumer complaints and dispute settlement among consumers and utilities.
The RDBMS is also intended to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of service to LERC diversified stakeholders including utility providers and their customers which involves many levels of communication, LERC sought support from the African Development Bank to digitize its procedures and processes through the establishment of a Regulatory Database Management System (RDBMS).
The RDBMS according to the AfDB a USD300,000 project through its Special Initiative Budget.
By: Leila B. Gbati
