The governments of Gambia, Sierra Leone and Mali have each received a share of US$108mn in grants from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to aid the development of their energy sectors
According to the Daily Observer, Gambia received a US$31.9mn grant under the ECOWAS Emergency Regional Programme for Improved Electricity Supply Facility (EERPIEF), a project that has been created for the benefit of countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
Sierra Leone and Mali received a grant of US$21.8mn and US$54.3mn, respectively.
This programme aims to help establish uninterrupted power supply in the region by 2015. Guinea-Bissau and Guinea were the first beneficiaries of the EERPIEF programme, which was launched in 2010.
ECOWAS commissioner Kadre Desire Ouedraogo said while member countries continued to grapple with problems in energy supply, it was commendable that heads of states were giving priority to the development of the industry.
Gambia energy minister Teneng-Ba Jaiteh said, “The grants which have been awarded went through extensive scrutiny at various levels. We will work quickly towards establishing terms and conditions for the initial disbursement of these funds to implement projects.”
