CEGELEC-MOROCCO, contractor for ADDAX Bioenergy Ethanol has completed the building of a sub-station and connection of power lines to the Bumbuna power grid.
The 14km power transmission line from the substation will feed into the High Voltage Bumbuna tower piers. The construction started from the ADDAX factory at Mabailafu to Makoth in the Makarie Gbanti Chiefdom.
The project, according to the CEGELEC Project Engineer, Amine Bennani, covers the construction of 161 Kilo Volt (KV) Power Line with 39 high voltage towers from ADDAX Mabailafu factory site to the Freetown-Bumbuna Power Lines. He said the construction process started in April 2013 and was completed Wednesday, 15th January 2014 and connection to the existing national grid was completed on Thursday, 30th January 2014.
Mr. Bennani said this is the first project to be undertaken by CEGELEC-Morocco in West Africa which according to him was quite challenging to complete, taking into consideration the climatic challenges especially during the rainy season. He also mentioned the challenge of the culture of the people along the transmission line.
The Morrocan electrical engineer explained that CEGELEC-Morocco is a subsidiary of VINCI Energies since 2010, which has seen the company grow to become a leader in electrical engineering in Africa. He said that over the years the company has diversified into several markets and serving industry, infrastructure, services and telecommunications sectors, making it 63rd on the list of Morocco’s 500 largest companies.
Upon completion of construction of the substation and connection of power transmission lines to the national grid, officials of the ADDAX Bioenergy ethanol company were pleased and satisfied by the effectiveness of the work done by CEGELEC-Morocco regarding respect of time schedule, quality and safety requirements.
CEGELEC-Morocco has been in full operations since 1948 with expertise in four major fields including, electrical power supply, information and communication technologies, heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) and mechanical engineering.
The Project Engineer said that presently they intend to expand to other West African countries such as Senegal, la Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon. He said they intend to go into many other electrical projects in Sierra Leone and expressed determination to participate in the development process of Sierra Leone.
The Engineer maintained that their company also does business unit design, install and maintain systems for industry, infrastructure and the service sector, especially in high-demand sectors such as energy and electricity, oil and gas, building, civil engineering and maintenance.
By Mohamed Kabba
