Ousman Jammeh, the secretary of state for Energy, has warned against illegal electricity connections, saying that Nawec, the national water and electricity company, will enhance its surveilance capacity to detect this malpractices, expose and prosecute the culprits.

The Energy secretary of state also disclosed that Nawec is embarking on a massive introduction of pre-payment meters to minimise the problem of unpaid bills.

These statements were contained in a speech delivered on behalf of SoS Jammeh, yesterday, by Babucarr Jallow, the permanent secretary at the Department of State for Energy, during the official commissioning of Batokunku Wind Project, funded by a German engineer, Peter Weissferdt and his wife Gitta Weissferdt.

“The development of energy infrastructure is an expensive business and Nawec needs the financial resources to maintain and expand its services to deserving people of The Gambia,” said SoS Jammeh, while appealing to Nawec customers, including the people of Batokunku to honour their dues to Nawec.

According to him, the Batokunku Wind Project marks the beginning of a new innovation, as the project consists of single wind turbines capable of generating 150KVA for the whole village.

“Eighty (80) compound have been connected to the distribution grid of the project and will be supplied with electricity generated from the wind turbine. The excess energy will be sold to Nawec through its grid,” he said.  

SoS Jammeh highlighted the significance of the project, as it utilises a natural resource that is “renewable and undepletable”. He emphasised that under the dynamic leadership of President Jammeh, energy and renewable energy in particular, has been given the priority its deserves.

“This is because the government of The Gambia is aware of the benefits of utilising all forms of renewable energy for the socio-economic transformation of our country. We cannot rely on the petroleum resources alone to meet our development challenges in the energy sector,” he said.

For his part, Alagie Gaye, the director general of the Public Regulatory Authority (Pura), said the occasion marks an important milestone, which started some time ago with an initiative by the residents of Batokunku to bring energy to their community using renewable energy. According to him, his institution received an application for a license to distribute electricity at Batokunku in Kombo South in December 2007.

He thanked NAWEC for their cooperation, noting that the wind energy will go a long way in boosting the morale of the village.

Peter Weissferdt, a German engineer and the man behind the whole initiative, said the project started in 1999 and a 150KVA wind converter with a total height of 40 meters and 27m in diameter was shipped to The Gambia.

“The basic idea was to produce green electricity with the wind converter, supplying its energy more or less free of charge to the people of the village,” Mr Weissferdt emphasised.

Other speakers at the ceremony included Water Klotz, the task force leader of Nawec, Alagie Fafa Jatta, the Alkalo of Batokunku and Alex Dacosta, the senior communication officer of Pura, who chaired the ceremony.