Hydro brings light and hope to Sierra Leone

It hasn’t yet reached Ali Lamie’s small store, which flashes with colours as he charges cellphones by the rack. But after more than 30 years, Bumbuna hydroelectric dam is bringing power and economic hope to Sierra Leone.

Key sections of the capital Freetown were lit up this month when President Ernest Bai Koroma switched on the final test of the project at the Kingtom power station, named after the local king who let freed black slaves settle the area in 1787.

Coming in the same month as a large oil find off the coast of this impoverished West African country and amid rising investor interest in its potentially huge iron ore deposits, the dam’s power will be material.

“This is a huge saving for the country because they don’t have to import fuel anymore and it will mean the economy and industry can expand,” said Engilbert Gudmundsson of the World Bank, a backer of the dam which has cost over $200 million. Reuters