The project is a Regional Emergency Solar Power Intervention Project of the World Bank program (RESPITE). Through the quick deployment of grid-connected renewable energy, a regional program funded by the World Bank with US$311 million aims to increase power access for millions of current and potential consumers in the countries of Chad, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
The Liberian government’s signature was provided by Samuel D. Tweah, Minister of Finance and Development Planning.
At the signing ceremony, which was co-hosted by the World Bank and the Government of Sierra Leone in Freetown, Min. Tweah extended his appreciation to the World Bank for increasing financing to Liberia and other countries to tackle infrastructure challenges in the Sub-Saharan region.
For his part, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC), Monie Captan, said Liberia will receive US$96 million of the US$311 million financing package for Liberia, Sierra Leone, Chad, and Togo.
“We will procure a 20 MW solar plant that will be located at Mt. Coffee; this will help alleviate dry season challenges and provide affordable energy. Mt. Coffee will be expanded by an additional 40 MW,” he said.
Sierra Leone’s Minister of Energy, Alhaji Kanja Sesay, was delighted to host the inaugural meeting of the Regional Technical Committee and RESPITE Coordination Unit.
“We congratulate and thank the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation for the coordinated IFC/World Bank solution. This initiative, which included accelerated Board approval for funding and implementation, is a sea change for the Bank in its efforts to address energy poverty and promote the rapid transition to renewable energy as a baseline,” Mr. Sesay remarked.
Director of Regional Integration at the World Bank, Madam Boutheina Guermazzi, said she felt highly honored and privileged to be at the ceremony, describing the occasion as one that brings all of them together to discuss complete ways to achieve universal energy access for the economic transformation of West Africa.
“This geopolitical commitment demonstrated by all countries represented here today is a good motivation for all of us and is key to the project’s success,” she noted.
She concluded by listing the Bank’s contributions to Africa’s renewable energy drive, noting that it had provided more than $100 million in technical assistance to WAPP in West Africa and had committed more than $400 million to support deeper energy sector reforms.
The Regional Emergency Solar Power Intervention, or RESPITE, which is dedicated to addressing regional challenges, increasing IDA allocations, reducing fiscal impact, alleviating the electricity supply crisis, and supporting energy transition, is an emergency response to the Russia-Ukraine war with 100 percent climate co-benefits and a proposed 75 percent disbursement over a year.
