20100810
africanews

The Senegalese government set next February as target to end chronic power outages that have almost brought its economy to a halt.

Energy Minister Samuel Sarr told a press conference on Monday that the government was close to reaching a deal with Jacobsen elektro of Denmark for a new gas-fired power plant. It is envisaged that this development could help the government put under control the present situation of the seemingly insoluble problem of constant outages.

"We are close to signing an agreement with Jacobsen for an additional 80 megawatts. Our target to end the (power) deficit will be February 2011,” Minister Sarr, who has come under intense pressure to resign over the issue, told journalists in Dakar.

The past months have witnessed some of the most violent demonstrations in Senegal by citizens angered by the government’s failure to give any tangible explanation for the problem.
The authorities have either blamed “poor quality” fuel, which they often blame for causing fault on generators, or sabotage for the outages.

Energy Minister, Samuel Sarr, Monday repeated this accusation levelled against “damage to the generators” as a result of bad fuel.

President Abdoulaye Wade has himself come under scathing attack by his opponents over the issue. The Senegalese leader is at the forefront of a continental scheme to rid Africa of the problem of low energy generation. He is seeking to solve this problem investing, with the support of the African Union, on solar energy.

Minister Sarr, at Mondays’ press conference, revealed that the government was lifting taxes on renewable sources of energy in an effort to diversify supply.