“Recent assessments indicate that, by end 2025, ninety per cent (90%) of Gambians will have access to electricity,” stated President Adama Barrow.
This statement was given by the President yesterday before the National Assembly during his yearly State of the Nation Address (SoNA).
He pointed out that the nation’s first utility-large-scale solar park, measuring 23 megawatts (23 MW), was unveiled in Jambur in 2024. Additionally, he stated that a bidding process is in progress for a 50 megawatt (50 MW) solar facility near Jarra Soma, which has the potential to grow to 150 megawatts (150 MW) of renewable energy.
My government implemented a subsidy program and lowered the price of energy meters in the project-affected districts from 8,500 Dalasis (D8,500) to 500 Dalasis (D500) in order to further promote the goal of universal access to electricity.
By December, he claimed, “this enabled seventy-two thousand (72,000) new household connections.”
The Cabinet has also given its approval to NAWEC’s division into independent water and energy businesses, he noted. The plan is to increase operational focus, guarantee responsibility, and improve service delivery.
“Our national development objectives for economic growth, industrialization, social modernization, and progress remain centered on the energy sector,” he stated.
As a component of the larger Praia-Dakar-Abidjan-Lagos Multi-modal Corridor, the President further said that the Trans-Gambia Corridor Special Economic Zone Project is moving along nicely.
He clarified, “ECOWAS and the African Development Bank provided support for the study for this project.” “We are currently updating the GIEPA Act of 2015 and the National Industrial Policy. In order to facilitate the growth of the private sector and increase job creation, the goals are to support industrialization activities, draw in investment, modernize our industrial ecosystem, and encourage value-added production.
