20100827
africanews

DAKAR (Reuters) - Senegal and Chinese firm CMEC signed a deal aimed at providing a gas-fired plant with capacvity of 42 MW to the local Senelec power company, struggling to tackle chronic power shortages.

"Senelec will reinforce its capacity with this new gas-fired plant of 42 MW and which will be upgraded to 60 MW," Senelec spokesman Mamadou Diallo said on Friday.

He said the Chinese put the initial cost of the plant at $68 million but they have not reached a final cost yet. The plant will be completed between five and 10 months.

The government of the West African state has been under increasing political pressure over power provision after the most severe power cuts in decades triggered widespread protests in July and led religious leaders in the Muslim country to urge residents to stop paying their power bills.

Earlier this month Senelec management said it was close to a deal with Danish company Jacobsen elektro for another 80 megawatt gas-fired power plant.

State electricity firm Senelec has a structural shortfall of between 30-50 MW of capacity but in recent weeks the shortfall reached 130 MW due to damage to the country's generators from a batch of bad fuel.

Local business has complained the power cuts are making it virtually impossible to trade and hundreds of people joined in a wave of protests in recent weeks.