By Kebba AF Touray
The National Water and Electricity Company (NAWEC) appeared before the Public Enterprise Committee (PEC) of the National Assembly for the presentation of their activity report and financial statement for 2021.
On the successes registered by NAWEC, the management informed PEC that in 2021, the company has ensured there was continuous supply of clean resources to homes, businesses and industry across the country.
“In line with our core values of customer focus, honesty, transparency and commitment, we remained steadfast in our mission to deliver reliable, affordable services while upholding highest standards of integrity and accountability,” said NAWEC Management.
The management informed the committee that in the face of challenges such as climate change and population growth, the company continues to invest in modern infrastructure and innovative technologies, prioritising environment sustainability and operational efficiency.
The management of the company also told PEC that during the period under review, the company faced challenges, including capacity gap to meet up with the demand for water and electricity.
The management however, said that despite these challenges, significant strides were made in improving infrastructure and service delivery.
“For electricity, we continue to focus on enhancing generation capacity, while also investing on the transmission and distribution networks,” said NAWEC Management.
NAWEC stated that the implementation of the electricity expansion project is a testament to their commitment to reaching universal access by 2025.
NAWEC said one of their priorities is to address the issue of water supply shortage citing the Exim Bank Funded Water Project, which is aimed at modernizing our distribution networks, and increasing production capacity. They claimed that the Gambia Government support through debt restructuring has provided them with the much needed financial relief, enabling them to navigate challenges and attract private sector investment.
Reporting on its activity report, the company’s management also informed the committee that during the period under review, 49. 98 percent of their power generation came from NAWEC’s own generation sources, which are from their power stations in Brikama and Kotu primarily.
NAWEC said the communities in the provinces were supplied primarily by Senelec interconnection – that was 3.68 percent of the production for the year 2021, while 46.34 percent of the power production in the Gambia was from the KARPOWER ship anchored in Banjul.
The national utility provider said, as part of their transmission and distribution efforts, some of the key challenges encountered are aggregated losses in general, technical and commercial. The management stated that a key aspect of NAWEC’s energy is spent on ensuring lost reduction
The report indicated that NAWEC in 2021 had 1909 staff – 697 in the electricity business unit, 231 in the water and sewage unit and 436 in the customer service directorate among others.
Reporting on the financial transactions of the company, the management also reported that in 2021, the company’s revenue increased from D4,102,215,000.00 in 2020 to D4,441,787,000.00 in 2021. The total income, according to the report, also increased from D4,147,604,000.00 in 2020 to D4,498,112000.00 in 2021.
