Newsletter No. 694
News-Analysis
August 2, 2007

 

TOKYO UPGRADES ITS COMMITMENT TO SIERRA LEONE

The few stories that I have covered on Japan-Sierra Leone relations in the Shingetsu Newsletter have usually been lifted from news sources in Freetown that happen to be online. This week, however, the stories are coming mainly from MOFA itself, which seems to be taking a significant initiative to upgrade its commitment to this West African country.

Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Masayoshi Hamada is currently in Sierra Leone on a six-day visit. The timing of this visit seems to be related to three factors. First, there are presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled in Sierra Leone on August 11th and Hamada is observing efforts to prepare for these elections. Second, Japan has become the chair of the UN Peacebuilding Commission and the observations being made by Hamada will be used within that context. Third, Tokyo has been suggesting recently that their commitment to Africa will be boosted across the board and these efforts in Sierra Leone seem to be one small facet of that larger picture.

Hamada’s delegation -- which also includes Ambassador to Ghana Masamichi Ishikawa and other MOFA officials including Shigeru Ushio, Yoshiyasu Iseki, and Shojiro Nishimura -- has met with President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and other senior government officials in Freetown.

Aside from simple observation, MOFA has already announced three new initiatives to assist Sierra Leone as follows:

1) As part of a larger package of grant aid through the United Nations World Food Programme, Japan is providing about US$2.9 million in food aid to Sierra Leone, which unfortunately has been unable to escape terrible poverty since the end of the civil war.

2) While in Freetown, Hamada met with Dr. Mohamed Lamin Kamara, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Sierra Leone, and signed an agreement whereby all of Sierra Leone’s debts to the Japan Bank for International Cooperation would be cancelled. Before this agreement, Freetown had owed more than US$32 million to the JBIC.

3) Grant aid aimed at improving the electric power supply system in Freetown. The value of this package is about US$4.8 million. The full MOFA announcement on this latter project is provided here:

Exchange of Notes concerning Grant Aid to the Republic of Sierra Leone for the Project for Urgent Improvement of Electric Power Supply System in Freetown (Phase I)
August 1, 2007

1. The Government of Japan has decided to provide grant aid of up to 570 million yen to the Republic of Sierra Leone for the Project for Urgent Improvement of Electric Power Supply System in Freetown (Phase I). Notes to this effect were exchanged on August 1 (Wed) (same day local time) in the capital city Freetown between Mr. Masayoshi Hamada, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, and Dr. Mohamed Lamin Kamara, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Sierra Leone.

2. The outline of the project is as follows:

(1) Content of the project

Construction of Regent Primary Substation (33 kV), extension of 33 kV distribution line from Wilberforce Primary Substation to Regent Primary Substation, laying of 11 kV distribution lines from Kingtom Power Station to Congo Cross Primary Substation and from Congo Cross Primary Substation to Wilberforce Primary Substation for the stable supply of electricity in Freetown and its surrounding areas.

(2) Necessity of the project

(a) In the Republic of Sierra Leone, the civil war which continued intermittently from 1991 to 2002, the year when it was finally declared at an end, resulted in devastation in mining and agriculture and economic breakdown, and turned most of its people into refugees or internally displaced persons. Electric power supply facilities also took devastating damage. As the facilities of Kingtom Power Station, which supplies electricity to the capital city Freetown and surrounding areas, are antiquated and frequently break down, only two out of the seven of its generators are working. The possible electric capacity is only about 7 MW, and the distribution loss is more than 40% because of the damage to the distributing facilities and deterioration.

(b) The electricity situation is extremely fragile both in generating and distributing sufficient amounts to cope with the electricity demand in the city of Freetown and its surrounding areas. Planned outages have become an everyday occurrence and ordinary households are unable to receive electricity supply for more than a few hours for one day a week.

(c) Sierra Leone formulated the National Long Term Perspectives Studies “VISION 2025” in 2003, in which it formulated three visions: “United People,” “Progressive Nation” and “Attractive Country.” In the field of energy, it stipulated “Rehabilitation and maintenance of the National Power Authority’s (NPA) infrastructure and systems,” aimed at achieving the vision. Based on this program, the Government of Sierra Leone requested Japanese grant aid to maintain capital the functions of Freetown and its surrounding areas to improve and strengthen the necessary facilities for a stable supply of electricity.

(3) The effect of the project

By the implementation of the project (Phase I), electrification of the non-electrified districts and houses in the Regent district of Freetown will become possible (if the demand for one household is 500 W, about 3,200 households will be able to receive electricity), and by repair of the distribution networks, the quality of electricity will be improved (distribution loss will decrease from 40% to 30%, and the voltage drop will be improved from 20% to 10%), enabling a stable supply of electricity in Freetown.