Members of The Gambian-German energy project inaugurate the GIZ energy project which was signed by the two countries following the visit of the German president in December 2017 with the objective of boosting the energy sector of the country.
The inauguration was held at headquarters of the Ministry of Energy attended by government officials on Wednesday.
The project funded by the German Federal Foreign Office and implemented by the GIZ and NAWEC under the ministry of energy is aimed at boosting the energy sector of the country which has been a greatest challenge for the national energy company.
The project according to the officials started in May 2018 and will be completed by end of 2019, with some installation works remaining to be finalized in the fourth quarter of this year.
Mr Norbert Kolb, the project consultant described the project as another milestone of bilateral relationship between the two countries in the areas of energy.
Expressing his optimism about the project, Mr Kold said with capacity training provided to the staffs of the national energy company and the new technology in place will go a long way to boost the energy sector of the country, while also highlighting some of the achievement since the commencement of the project.
Alpha Robinson, managing director of NAWEC and he described the day as “a moment of celebration,” noting that with this project, the power supply in the country will be stabilized.
With the training provided to the staffs and empowerment of the state energy company with tools and technology, Mr Robinson is optimistic that the company will embrace new technology, while hoping for the implementation of the second phase of the project in the future.
For his part, the German Ambassador to Dakar, Senegal, Stephan Roeken assured that the German government will continue to partnering with The Gambia in the future in all sector of its development agendas.
Ambassador Roeken appealed to the government of The Gambia to embrace decentralization of projects in the country, while taken his home country as an example.
The minister of Energy and Petroleum, Fafa Sanyang in his closing remarks gave a scope of the project which according to him focused on four key areas such as installation of independent communication infrastructure, provision of quality testing equipment for oil and lubricant, capacity building of NAWEC staffs on the operation, protection and maintenance of new communication system among others.
It would be recalled that the project was initiated by the German Federal President, Frank Walter Steinmeier who announced to help stabilizing the electricity supply in The Gambia during his visit in December.