As part of plans to expand the operational capacity of the National Water and Electricity Company (NAWEC), the government of The Gambia, in conjunction with NAWEC, has secured two new generators to increase the national energy supplier's electricity generating power, courtesy of the Gambian leader, Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh.

The generators arrived in the country over the weekend, and they were escorted to the Brikama Power Plant for eventual installation. The Global Electrical Group (GEG), an independent power supplier, is overseeing the Brikama Power Station, and its Brikama plant manager, Alain Moreau, disclosed that the arrival of these two new giant 50 megawatt generators, combined with the existing ones at the plant, will go a long way in augmenting the coverage capacity of NAWEC.

According to Moreau, GEG's primary task is to produce electricity, with NAWEC serving as distributor to the local communities. He however indicated that installation of these new generators will take sometime to complete. It could be recalled that the Department of State for Energy, at one point, had been under the Office of the President, which is said to have initiated all the ongoing projects that are currently being implemented by the department. "You may be aware that a lot of infrastructural development are ongoing in the country, and these must be matched with the demand for electricity," one senior NAWEC official said.

The acquisition of these two new generators is also viewed as a major boost for the president's intention of electrifying the entire nation under his Rural Electrification Project. What is even more significant about this new development is its relevance to the president's recent pronouncement, promising to electrify the whole of Western Region. And to this end, the NAWEC official said, plans are at an advanced stage to establish a new power station in Brikama. This, they said, will also boost ongoing gains in the Rural Electrification programme, phase one of which has already been completed.