OPIS Foundation

Sierra Leone can be divided into twelve river basins, of which five are shared with Guinea and two with Liberia. The most important ones, from west to east, are: the Kolente (Great Scarcies), Kaba, Rokel, Pampana (Jong), Sewa, Moa, and Mano. The groundwater resources of the country have not been extensively studied. They correspond almost totally to the baseflow of the rivers and the permeability of the substratum is high.

Internal renewable water resources are estimated at 160 cubic kilometers (km³/year), with surface water accounting for 150 km³/year of them. Seasonal variations are important: only 11-17 percent of the annual discharge occurs between December and April, with minimum discharge in April. Internally produced groundwater is estimated to be 50 km³/year. Of that, 40 km³/year is considered to be overlap between surface water and groundwater.

Wetlands are important in rice and vegetable production. Sierra Leone signed the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in 1999 and 66 Ramsar sites exist in the country.

Sierra Leone has only one major dam, the 68 meter-high Guma dam, built for hydroelectricity purposes close to Freetown. However, there is considerable potential for the development of small-scale hydroelectric schemes that could also be designed to accommodate irrigated agriculture. An inventory identified 21 sites for hydropower development, with a hydroelectric potential which already exceeds by far the medium-term demand of the country (the total potential is believed to be much higher).

While water is abundant in Sierra Leone, there is a definite shortage of potable and treated water in the city of Freetown and throughout the country. In close cooperatoin with the Governement of Sierra Leone, the Foundation proposes to facilitate the collection and distribution of water from the rivers as well as thru the drilling of water wells strategically located around the country.

Much of the Sierra Leone's power generation capacity was hampered during the civil war. The country currently experiences frequent blackouts an in the Freetown peninsula, electricity supply is available to customers only for a few hours every week. Most areas in the interior of the country are wholly or largely are without access electricity.

About 90% of Sierra Leone's electricity is consumed in the country's four main cities: The capital city of Freetown uses 82% of the country's electrical power, followed by Kenema which uses 3%, Bo uses 3%, and Makeni uses 2% of the country's power supply.

Sierra Leone's power generation relies substantially on fuel oil imports. Freetown's electricity supply comes from the oil-powered Kingtom power generating station, which struggles to provide a continual and an uninterrupted power supply, due to it being in poor condition.

The National Power Authority (NPA) is responsible for providing electricity to Sierra Leone. The company was previously named the Sierra Leone Electricity Corporation (SLEC). In recent years the NPA has been undergone privatisation, allowing more investment and financial support for projects in the country's electrical power sector.

There remains a substantial interest in developing Sierra Leone's hydropower potential. A major hydropower project had been the focus for providing for the power needs of the country for a long time. The Bumbuna Hydroelectric Project (BHP) had been developed in 1970 but civil conflict in the country had caused construction works to be suspended in 1997, but, by then, the project had 85 percent complete. It was only in June 2005 that the World Bank approved construction to be resume on the project.

The project entails a hydropower complex, located on the Seli River, in the valleys of the Sula Mountains, approximately 200 km northeast of Freetown, in the Kalansogoia Chiefdom of the Tonkolili district. It encompasses an 88m high rock-fill dam with an asphalted concrete upstream face; a 50 MW power station located at the tow of the dam, housing two turbine-generator units of 25 MW each; a transmission system consisting of 200 km of 161 kV transmission line from the power station to Freetown and a substation in Freetown to feed power into the Western Area grid; and a separate power service to Makeni, Lunsar and Port Loko.

The BHP is seen as beneficial to the future of Sierra Leone's electrical power sector because it can greatly improve the current power supply situation by providing a reliable supply of electricity that would meet the electricity needs of the West African country, including Freetown, at the lowest possible cost and in a sustainable manner. Moreover the electricity generated by the BHP will provide power to new towns such as Makeni, Lunsar and Port Loko, which are currently not connected to the grid.

The Foundation also proposes to develop a power generation facility close to the BioDiesel refinery to provide another significant source of reliable electrical power to the country.

Ministry of Transport and Communication Mr Wurri shares his ideas with us.

Telephones - main lines in use: 25,000 (2001), 17,000 (1995)
Telephones - mobile cellular: 420,000 (2007)
Telephone system: marginal but improving telephone and telegraph service

• domestic: the national microwave radio relay trunk system connects Freetown to Bo and Kenema. 5 mobile phone networks (GSM900) with national coverage.
• international: satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 0, FM 16, shortwave 0 (2006)
Radios: 1.12 million (1997)
Television broadcast stations: 2 (2006)
Televisions: 53,000 (1997)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 4 (2008)
Internet users: 20,000 (2001)

A basic telecommunication exists in Sierra Leone. This infrastructure is unfortunately unreliable.  Most business people need to carry at least two cell phones and hope at least one is on a network that in currently working. Like in most undevelopped countries, local business and the upper class set up their own satellite television and satellite communication network. These expensive solutions are not conducive to benefit a large portion of the population.

We propose to develop the cable network in Freetown and later in major cities around the country to allow for a reliable television, telephone and internet network available to the majority of businesses and subdivisions.

With respect to the cell phone network, we are confident that the improvements we are planning to bring to the electricity generation and reliability will allow the cell phone carrier to improve the reliability of their services.

Sierra Leone has the third largest natural harbor in the world, where international shipping berth at the Queen Elizabeth II Quay in Government Wharf in central Freetown. There are 800 km of waterways in Sierra Leone, of which 600 km are navigable year-round. Major port cities are Bonthe, Freetown, Sherbro Island and Pepel.

Well located a the tip of West Africa, the Freetown harbour has the potential to become a desirable place for importing and exporting products in West Africa. We intend to facilitate the development of the harbour and create thousands of jobs around this natural asset.

There are 11,700 kilometres of highways in Sierra Leone, of which 936 km are paved. Sierra Leone highways are linked to Conakry, Guinea, and Monrovia, Liberia.

Sierra Leone is a small country the size of Louisiana. With the current road network, travelling to most places in the country is a full day adventure.  We plan to improve the road network to bring main cities to within hours of each other as well as improve the communication with neighboaring countries.  This network will become very important as the Port of Sierra Leone becomes a major commercial port for importing and exporting products out of West Africa.