Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Electricity Niger

Niger just started build a hydro-dam knows as the Kandadji dam. The funds for this project is being underwritten by the Islamic Development Bank, to the tune of $236 million with an additional $700 million coming from the far East, and I mean the East from the great wall of China. What is sad is that, this project has been on the table for more than thirty (30) years.
One would ask what took so long? The answer is not so simple. First Niger is one of the poorest countries in Africa, if not the whole world. Sadly, Niger like most African countries is very rich in mineral reserves (namely Uranium). Before anybody asks why can’t Niger mine and sell its resources. The answer is very simple, for a poor nation like Niger, sacrificing today for a better tomorrow, is not done. It can bring on demonstrations and possible military revolutions, so the powers that are, dare not entertain such an idea; the stomach first!
There is oil in Niger, that is not being explored, sorry I said that, because the 800 pound gorilla in the ring is looking at that oil (the Chinese are interested, and they are not hiding their intention). They are willing to give interest FREE loans as the saying goes, “there are no free lunches”.
Niger is currently getting almost 90% of her electricity from big sister Nigeria, you can read anything into this relationship, but at least, Nigeria is being her sister’s keeper.Prime Minister Seini Oumarou is not looking malnurished to me, neither is President Mamadou Tandja. This landscape has a bunch of hippos running loose.

Electricity Niger

Niger just started build a hydro-dam knows as the Kandadji dam. The funds for this project is being underwritten by the Islamic Development Bank, to the tune of $236 million with an additional $700 million coming form the far East, and I mean the East from the great wall of China. What is sad is that, this project has been on the table for more than thirty (30) years.
One would ask what took so long? The answer is not so simple. First Niger is one of the poorest countries in Africa, if not the whole world. Sadly, Niger like most African countries is very rich in mineral reserves (namely Uranium). Before anybody asks why can’t Niger mine and sell its resources. The answer is very simple, for a poor nation like Niger, sacrificing today for a better tomorrow, is not done. It can bring on demonstrations and possible military revolutions, so the powers that are, dare not entertain such an idea; the stomach first!
There is oil in Niger, that is not being explored, sorry I said that, because the 800 pound gorilla in the ring is looking at that oil (the Chinese are interested, and they are not hiding their intention). They are willing to give interest FREE loans as the saying goes, “there are no free lunches”.
Niger is currently getting almost 90% of her electricity from big brother Nigeria, you can read anything into this relationship, but at least, Nigeria is being her sister’s keeper.Prime Minister Seini Oumarou is not looking malnurished to me, neither is President Mamadou Tandja. This landscape has a bunch of hippos running loose.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Electricity Togo

Here we are in Togo. First, Togo was under the crushing thumb of Etienne Gnassingbe Eyadema, he has been gone for three (3) years now. Togo is still struggling with electricity supply and distribution.
Between father and son, the Eyademas have been in charge of Togo for more than 40 years, and I mean continuously. Supposedly there is going to be a new power plant coming on board by year’s end 2009, time will tell.
Papa Eyadema died leaving the people of Togo in the dark. Baby Eyadema has now been in charge for three years. After the accusation of Ghana trying to sabotage his government, political stability seem to have take root, but the electricity situation is still in the “dark”. Togo is still getting some of her electricity form Ghana.
But wait a minute, Ghana is also being helped by Ivory Coast, so this is the case of begging from your poor neighbour. What a pitiful scenario! Okay, the volta lake is still kind of high in the 240’s, but not every community is getting electricity in Ghana, Valco is still not running at full capacity.
I have deviated a little, but if Togo is able to get their new plant online by the end of 2009, that will hopefully boost the electricity supply by almost 100 Megawatts of electricity. That would be a whale of a shot-in-the-arm and this would help not only Togo, but Ghana and to some extend Benin.
Regardless of what happens two years from now, hippos have been running loose in Togo for more than 38 years, Baby Eyadema seems to have turned 180 degrees from Papa Eyadema. If time proves the current leaders to be true to their words and claim (even a partial of 100 MW by end of 2009), then we have cheetahs running in Togo.

Folks lets give them a hand for taking the right road.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Burkina Electricity

I thought I am going to be smiling a little bit, because like Sierra Leone, I found a country that is self-sufficient in electricity. Boy, am I wrong.
The numbers are very hard to come up with after 2005. I have scratched and poked and looked under every rock or shall I say every generator I could look under, or look into, and still I found nothing to report for 2006, 2007 or 2008; but what I was able to come up with is nothing to write home about.
I know there should be something out there, because the hydro plant in Burkina has been running for at least two (2) years, but for some reason, the folks in Ouagadougou are keeping everything close to their chest.
For what it is worth, here are the numbers for Burkina 2005. Electricity production was 516 Megawatts, and the consumption was only 480 MW . On the surface, one will think that gives an excess of 36 Megawatts (an excess of 7%); which is very good, because the 36 excess is about 65% of the total amount produced in Bissau.
But wait a minute, there is a catch. Less than 20% of the total population of Burkina is being served with electricity, and this is mostly around Ouagadougou, Bobo-Dioulasso, Banfora, Bokin, and a few towns. This is one country where more than 60% of the population lives on less that 15% of the total landmass of Burkina Faso.
No electricity, implies no irrigation, farming is brute force. Mechanize farming is beyond the reach of most farmers.
From Maurice Yameogo to Thomas Sankara to Blaise Compaoré; folks I have seen nothing but a bunch of hippos running over this landscape.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Electricity Mali/Electricity Ivory Coast

While I was on my march through West Africa heading East, I should have stopped in Mali, however, I am compelled to combine Mali with Ivory Coast; because it looks like these 2 countries are hitched at the waist.
First, on the surface, it looks like Mali is producing enough electricity to me its needs, and then some, but then, you find Mali importing energy form Cote d’Ivoire. This is disturbing indeed. Do I detect gross lack of competency, or do I see people lining their own pockets.
You look at the numbers and it looks like there is enough electricity being generated in Mali, the caretakers of power distribution (Energie Du Mali) are talking about lack of transmission lines. I am sure there are proceeds from the supply of power to the general population, why can the transmission lines be extended. Our elders have a saying, or shall I say a proverb; how does one eat an elephant, "one Bite at a Time". With that in mind, how does one extend power supply from one place to the other, one Pole at a Time.
Here are a herd of Hippos if I ever saw one.

What about Cote d’Ivoire? Well, this is a mixed bag. Ivory Coast seem to be producing more electricity than what it needs, so it can afford to export the excess to Mali, Ghana, Togo, and Benin. But on the flip side, there is a large segment of Ivory Coast that is still in the dark not only at night, but also during the daytime.
Ivorian elite like to think of themselves as French, and at times they are more French than the French themselves. Gandhi said "Indians would NEVER be Independent until every citizen has housing and good sanitation". Well, no African country and for that matter Cote D’Ivoire will never be Independent, until every citizen gets education, stop chopping trees for fire wood, and stop using smoky kerosene lamps. From where I am sitting, I see nothing but Hippos running in the game reserve of Ivory Coast.