The Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) and the International Consolidated Contractors Offshore have signed a US$16 million agreement for the installation of a solar plant and the extension of the Mount Coffee Hydro.
LEC Managing Director, Monie Captan, signed on behalf of the corporation; Ahab Serhal, Chief Executive Officer of the International Consolidated Contractors Offshore, signed on behalf of his institution.
Speaking shortly after the signing ceremony, Captan said the agreement, “regional emergency solar power intervention project,” is sponsored by the World Bank. According to him, the project, which is expected to be completed within one year, will be able to supply electricity to Monrovia and its environs during the dry season.
Captan added that the project will also involve the expansion of the Hydro Plant in Mount Coffee in order to be able to use the solar to supply electricity both in the rainy and dry seasons
“This is the very first time in the history of Liberia that we are embarking on the solar energy project that is utility scaled,” he said, adding that it will produce about 20 megawatts and also help reduce the shortage of electricity during the dry season.
“It will solve a huge amount of the problems of the electricity during the dry season but it will give additional electricity that we do not have today and make a significant impact,” Captan said.For his part, Chief Executive Officer Serhal assured the LEC that his company will endeavor to construct a solar plant that will last Liberia for a number of years.
He commended the Liberian Government’s efforts to engage in the infrastructural development especially in the energy sector of the country, while thanking the World Bank for providing funding for the project.
Serhal said his company is not a stranger to Liberia because it has constructed schools and hospitals for the World Bank in several parts of the country. He reaffirmed his company’s commitment to high standards of environmental and healthy practices in its area of operation. Also speaking, World Bank official, Mohamed Sagib, assured the LEC of the bank’s fullest cooperation making the project a success.
