DATE: 20TH FEBRUARY 2025

VENUE: SALAGI FOREST

The Honourable Minister of Petroleum, Energy and Mines, Other Honourable Cabinet Ministers Present, The Governor of West Coast Region, Her Excellency, the European Union Ambassador to The Gambia, Representative of the World Bank, Representative of The European Investment Bank, Security and Service Chiefs, Senior Government Officials, Community Leaders, Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are humbly thankful to the Almighty Allah for the blessing of this joyous occasion, organised as part of our dear country’s Diamond Jubilee Independence Day Anniversary Celebration.

As announced already, we are here to inaugurate a very crucial project in the history of our country, which is the Electricity Transmission and Distribution Modernisation Project for the Greater Banjul Area.

The project is the result of the excellent partnership and collaboration between my government and the European Union, the World Bank, and the European Investment Bank.

We duly acknowledge and appreciate this valued partnership with these esteemed organisations and thank them most sincerely for their invaluable contributions to the welfare and development of our people.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Recognising the significant role energy plays in a country’s development and modernisation drive, my government has, since 2017, strategically prioritised and hugely invested in our energy sector.

These eight years of commitment and investment in the sector have yielded high dividends, noting that we now enjoy more stable power supply, compared to the past.

As spelt out in our Strategic Electricity Roadmap (2021-2040), this commitment to the energy sector will continue relentlessly until the whole country has access to uninterrupted, affordable, and sustainable power supply.

Since attaining Independence in 1965, our transmission network was limited to thirty-three (33) Kilo Volts. As I speak, this has been modernised and upgraded to two hundred and twenty-five (225) Kilo Volts! This makes the occasion very historic indeed.

In the sixty (60) years of The Gambia’s political history as a sovereign state, this is the first national high voltage transmission line linked to a national control centre and a SCADA system. For various reasons, this is worth celebrating.

The project will transform the country’s power supply system from an analogue system to a digital system. It will also make the power supply system much more robust and resilient, thus enhancing efficient communications and operation of the network.

As the project lays the foundation for a national electricity grid, it will facilitate, as well, efficient transmission of huge volumes of power from one end of the country to another.

In view of the completion of this project, we now have to work on the Eastern backbone to complete the national grid. Already, the feasibility study of this phase is now complete.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Another very important benefit of this project is that it will inter-connect the country’s power supply system with the OMVG power transmission network and, eventually, with the larger West African Power Pool network.

This will enable The Gambia to export or import power from any country within the West African Power Pool. The advantage is that it will further improve the country’s energy security system and create the opportunity to access the least costly power generation hubs within the ECOWAS subregion.

Considering The Gambia’s commitment to energy transition and the achievement of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), the country has ambitious plans for high penetration of variable renewable energy.

These ambitious renewable energy targets are achievable only with a robust and modernised national electricity grid, which this High Voltage infrastructure can provide.

With determination, we will continue to strengthen and expand our electricity grid and access to attain our ambitious goal of Universal Access by end-2025. I assure you all that this goal remains very dear to my government, and it ranks high on our National Development Plan, YIRIWA.

Despite its magnitude and importance, however, as a nation, deriving maximum benefit from this vital infrastructure depends largely on how it is operated and maintained. It is hoped, therefore, that the management and staff of NAWEC will not only efficiently operate and maintain it, but also jealously protect it for the benefit of the whole nation.

In the same vein, we must remember that the more digitised energy infrastructure is, the more vulnerable it is to cyber threats.

Consequently, to protect this highly valued infrastructure, the management of NAWEC must devise and implement comprehensive protective measures for all the energy infrastructure, facilities, and equipment in the country.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are thankful to all the relevant stakeholders of the energy sector for their significant contributions towards the realisation of this significant project.

In particular, we once again register deep gratitude to the European Union, the World Bank, and the European Investment Bank for providing the necessary financial resources for the project.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is now my singular honour and privilege to inaugurate and officially declare open this two hundred and twenty-five (225) Kilo-volt Transmission Network and National Control Centre.

May God bless our efforts and protect us all.