WASHINGTON, May 12, 2017—The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved today a $97 million credit for the Transmission Expansion Project to benefit existing and future consumers in Senegal with improved electricity services. A dramatic enhancement of electricity trade within the Organisation pour la Mise en Valeur du fleuve Sénégal (Senegal River Basin Development Organization, OMVS) will help achieve it.
“Senegal has one of the best overall access rates to electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa, but electricity is relatively expensive compared to regional standards and access remains limited in rural areas,” said Louise Cord, World Bank Country Director for Senegal. “The objective of this new project is to promote the development and sharing of hydropower electricity, which has been key to reducing electricity costs in each of these countries”.
“This will open the possibility for Senegal, Mali and Mauritania to access new and more diversified energy sources, which will provide reliability, flexibility, and lower cost of electricity,” Cord added.
“With growing populations of the three participating countries, energy demand is expected to grow, requiring additional generation capacity for the region,” said Charles Joseph Cormier, World Bank Practice Manager, Energy. “The proposed project will not only expand the electricity trade between the three countries, but will integrate the OMVS system to the broader West Africa Power Pool.”
Having a more reliable supply of electricity is also expected to improve the productivity of the population as well as the competitive edge of firms in the OMVS countries and, as a result, create jobs and spur economic growth, indicated Cord and Cormier.
The project will finance the construction of a new transmission line and associated substations to reinforce and extend the Réseau Interconnecté de Manantali (RIMA), the backbone of the OMVS regional power grid. The new line will interconnect the existing Kayes substation in Mali to the Tambacounda substation in Senegal, which is part of the expanded WAPP system. It will thus be connected to the Gambia River Basin Development Organization (Organisation pour la Mise en Valeur du fleuve Gambie, OMVG) system.
