Ziguinchor, April 26 (APS) – The Millenium challenge account-Senegal II (MCA-Senegal II) and the Assane Seck University of Ziguinchor (UASZ) signed, Friday, a partnership agreement for the development and implementation of a learning plan for the “Senegal Power Compact”, a program to strengthen the electricity sector, noted the APS.
This compact aims to guarantee a reliable supply of electricity to the Senegalese and meet the country’s growing demand in this area, in order to unlock the greatest potential for economic growth and poverty reduction.
The general director of MCA-Senegal II, Oumar Diop, believes that “this agreement will make it possible to support master’s students and post-docs from UASZ, respectively, in the writing of dissertations and relevant articles on the sector Energy”.
To do this, they will draw on “the experience of the Senegal Power Compact, thanks to the technical and financial support of MCA-Senegal II”, he explained.
“We hope today that through this convention, the dissemination of these results and these best practices in terms of project management and impact on populations will go beyond Senegal,” said Mr. Diop.
According to him, this project will impact more than 12 million Senegalese people. “In the central zone and in the southern zone, beyond bringing electricity and modernizing the network, we will identify more than six thousand vulnerable households. These households will receive free electricity connections,” he announced.
He also indicated that “the project will help the populations of the central and southern zones to have free connections and support them in being able to use electricity by facilitating the equipment”.
“So, we will subsidize electrical equipment to develop the economy of the southern zone and the central zone and develop all the rice, banana and mahogany value chains,” he promised.
“We will have the opportunity to be able to set up research teams which can, in the area of the concerns specified in the agreement, work in close collaboration to obtain results”, hopes the rector of the Assane Seck University of Ziguinchor, Professor Mamadou Badji.
He explained that one of the concerns addressed by this convention is to allow universal access to electricity for populations.
“This is one of the areas on which we will work more to enable our ecosystem to be able to ensure the transformation of a certain number of products, but also to ensure a certain social equity,” added Professor Badji.
Lasting five years, the MCC Electricity Compact for Senegal, or “Senegal Power Compact”, includes an investment grant of 550 million US dollars, or more than 336 billion FCFA, from the state government -United of America, through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).
A sum to which is added an additional contribution of 50 million US dollars (more than 30 billion FCFA) from the government of Senegal for an overall investment of 600 million US dollars (more than 367 billion FCFA).
MNF/ASG/BK
