Sierra Leone News

Posts Tagged ‘bumbuna’

Well, what I can I say… back to square one - noisy generators, no light during the day and so on! I keep hearing excuses - fixing technical problem, waiting for the rains etc.

In April, we had light almost throughout starting from Good Friday only for it to off on the 29th April, 2 days after independence.

I mean what’s going on? Sierra Leoneans deserve 24/7 light and nothing less. I’m tired of hearing all the different excuses.

To those in charge of Salone light: just get on with it and give us the light we deserve. Confound the doubters and make Sierra Leone proud.

Back to the darkness we’ve not experienced for sometime. Not impressed but at least they gave notice. Wonder how often this will be. When one gets used to electricity, it’s hard to go back to the pitch blackness that pervades when it’s absent.

Now getting used to noisy generators, candles, torches… etc all over again and oh I’m about to fry all the fish in my freezer to prevent them from getting spoilt…

We’re expecting the light back on Friday / Saturday. FYI

Just to qive you a quick summary on what’s happening on ground level and after this I think I’ll pause on the bumbuna issue unitl something dramatic happens.

The Good News……..
#1. I’m getting nearly 24/7 electricy. This is almost fantastic for me but for people that have lived here all their lives, it’s almost unbelievable! But hey, I believe in miracles and this Bumbuna hydro is one BIG FAT miracle!!!

#2. Big Fat Savings - Last month in October, we used only about 15 gallons of diseal for our generator, down from 40-60 gallons we were using. The Bumbuna was officially commisioned on the 6th of November and so far this month we used only 4 gallons to supplement. This is to give you an idea of what’s happening. I look forward to not needing any fuel at all but hey this is Africa…. one needs a standby for everything!

#3. The other good news - but for NPA - is that there’s increase in revenue collection. Prepaid meters are being installed in every house thus those who didn’t pay for their electricity (freeloaders) before are being forced to pay now or do without light.

The Bad News….
#1. Generator dependent businesses who never believed the Bumbuna will come and thus didn’t prepare for it are going out of business…

As you may well know, the Bumbuna Dam is nearly 100% operational. Recently, we have been experiencing better light. In fact from Thursday last week till Saturday we had light with no interruptions and this is the first time this has happened since we came to Sierra Leone in January 2008.
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Yes Salone is up and coming…. Well I feel much better and literally brighter - yes with the Bumbuna NPA light. Since two weeks now we’ve had light almost every night - sometimes it comes in at around 6.00pm, sometimes after we’ve gone to bed but never during the day. This is a much better situation and we’re all looking for more.

I heard from the grapevine that NPA made an announcement that they’re testing Bumbuna but apparently it’s only up to 20MegaWatts instead of the 50MW which is currently being worked on…

Needless to say, having brings about a “feel-good” atmosphere that only those of us who’ve experienced the lack of it can understand. I look forward to powering my laptop during the day with NPA and listening to the radio and doing all the frivolous things I can think of… simple things like storing ice cream in the freezer an eating it when I want.…

I also look forward to civilised quietness when all generators in the area including ours are off:

Here are some of the stuff I’ll save on each month

(current $ rate is about $4,000, you do the math)

40-60 gallons of diesel a month / @Le14,800 per gallon = Le592,000 - Le888,000

6 packets of giant candles /month - @ Le10,000 each = Le 60,000

Gosh… I can’t wait….Will update when more changes happen

I thought I should write a little bit about the reality of electricity in Freetown. Obviously, all my comments are based on where I live (Lumley) and I can’t vouch for other areas.

Since  we came in Jan 2008, it’s been touch and go with the electricity. Then, we had light almost every night with the power on  for all the weekend (both night & day). Then it became steadily worse where we had light only about 3 nights a week with plus all weekend (day and night). Fast forward to September ‘08 when the Muslim festival was in progress and the light was about the same.

Things were very bad - I mean VERY BAD in November ‘08 where the was light only about 1 night  a week and sometimes none at all. Around Dec ‘08 things improved. Jan ‘09 was similar to December but has since then it’s become steadily worse. As I write this, June ‘09, we tend to have light 3 nights the working week and maybe - just maybe during the day on Sat or Sun. At night when we need it most, we have to use a generator.

As dire and backward as the situation is, I still have hope the the Bumbuna Dam will come through and at last… there’ll be 24 hour light. 

Next time, I’ll write about the types and current prices of generators available and that I’ve seen people use…

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• ELECTRICITY SITUATION IN FREETOWN