Sierra Leone is aiming to increase its power capacity tenfold by 2017, a plan the energy minister said should be driven by foreign investors despite the outbreak of Ebola and a history of bureaucratic difficulties.
Sierra Leone has recorded strong economic growth rates in recent years as major mining projects came online, but the broader recovery from years of conflict during the 1990s has been slow and risks being derailed by an Ebola outbreak that has gripped the country.
"We are open for business," Henry Macauley told a packed conference room in the London offices of Herbert Smith Freehills, a law firm advising the government.
The plan aims to increase power capacity to 1,000 MW by 2017, from a current level of 100 MW.
"The political will is there and the appointment of a new minister of energy will likely inject some impetus into an often challenging negotiating environment," said Shah Jahan Khandokar of law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, which advised on a $220 million deal to build a 128 MW power plant in the capital Freetown by 2017.
Some critics doubt the government could approve deals quickly enough to ramp up production in such a short timeframe.
President Ernest Bai Koroma appointed Macauley in July after dismissing his predecessor, Oluniyi Robin-Coker, in February on charges of incompetence. Continued...
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