AMMAN - The National Electric Power Company (NEPCO) will help upgrade the electricity sector in Gambia under a $310,000 agreement with the National Water and Electricity Company (NAWEC).

NEPCO Director General Ahmad Hiasat, who signed the deal with NAWEC Managing Director Momodou Jallow, said Jordan bid in an international tender offered for the upgrade of the power sector in the African country and won the competition against several international firms.

According to a statement from NEPCO received by The Jordan Times on Monday, the Jordanian firm will conduct a feasibility study on means to upgrade the electricity sector in Gambia and will create an advanced electricity system regarding the lines of transfer, power transfer and generation stations and distribution networks in Banjul, the capital of Gambia, and western parts of the country.

A total of seven experts from the planning and transfer plant unit at NEPCO will carry out the feasibility study, said Hiasat, along with an expert from NAWEC.

Hiasat indicated that the Arab African Development Bank will finance the project which will extend over a six-month period.

He pointed out that NEPCO has carried out several training courses for power companies in Africa and that the project is the first for the company on that continent.

“NEPCO has implemented several power projects in many Arab countries, including Yemen, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates,” the director general elaborated.

The Gambian official visited several power generation units in the Kingdom and expressed hope that NEPCO will sign more deals with NAWEC to implement other electricity development projects.

NEPCO: Who are they? http://www.nepco.com.jo/eindex.aspx