Government seeks for funds to finance electricity transmission

The National Electricity Transmission Company (SONATREL), by presidential decree, organised a public-private dialogue to mobilize funds to revitalize the sector, on Wednesday, October 21 in Yaounde.

The numerous power cuts often recorded, transformer overload, saturated or burned, are few visible signs of the poor state of the transport network and distribution of electrical energy.

The consultation led by the Minister of Energy and Water (MINEE), Basile Atangana Kouna, aimed to find a strategy for funding the implementation of the upgrade investment program of electricity transport networks, initiated by the government over the period 2015-2020.

According to MINEE, "the President of the Republic established on October 8, the national electricity transmission company (Sonatrel), one of the tasks of managing the flow of energy, but above all the maintenance of electricity transmission networks. Our goal is to involve all donors to fund this important sector."

The consultation partners included the World Bank, the French Development Agency (AFD) and the EIB. "All these development partners are willing to support us in financing this program. This is a very significant funding that go beyond FCFA 1 billion. The objective of this seminar is to get the work to be done, but especially to know who will do what and who will pay what," insisted Basile Atangana Kouna.

The idea is to increase the supply of electricity to large urban centers through the realization of interconnections. It will also help strengthen and secure the supply of the transport network in the cities of Douala and Yaoundé, strengthen and secure the three networks interconnected North, South and East. Another aspect is to ensure the evacuation of energy plants productions of Kribi, Mekin, Memve'ele, Nachtigal, to consumption centers, can be read in the columns of the government daily Cameroon Tribune on newsstands on Thursday.

"It will rehabilitate existing networks, but also build new electricity transmission networks. Because one of the problems we have today is the life-span of the transport network. There are plenty of overloads, voltage drop and we hope that with the support of donors, we can address these situations, "concluded MINEE.