Gov’t unpaid arrears force NAWEC massive power cuts
According to reliable sources, the recent power cuts and intermittent interruptions of water and electricity supply being experienced within the capital, Banjul, KMC, West Coast and parts of the Lower River Region, are as a result of a major disconnection effected by Senegalese power company SENELEC.
It’s estimated that NAWEC owes SENELEC close to D900,000,000, arrears which cannot be paid without government’s immediate intervention.
The Gambia government’s last payment of outstanding arrears to NAWEC was about D138 million, which was last year, our sources revealed.
Since then, the government is yet to settle arrears of over D500 million it owes the national electricity company.
Government also owes close to D750 million subvention arrears to NAWEC.
According to our sources, since government has close to seven months of outstanding bills, NAWEC too has not been able to pay its SENELEC bills and because of these long-standing arrears, the Senegalese power company last week abruptly disconnected close to 95% of its power supply to The Gambia.
As a result of SENELE’s disruption, NAWEC is now forced to ration its own scarce national electric supply leading to the current situation that is affecting Banjul and surrounding places.
By the time of going to press, The Point has been reliably informed that President Adama Barrow has contacted Senegalese President Macky Sall to intervene while the Gambia government settles NAWEC to pay SENELEC’s electricity bills.
Source: The Point
