The African Development Bank (AfDB) on 13 December 2017 approved a €71m financing package for a transmission line connecting the power grids of Guinea and Mali. The 714km high voltage line will cost a total of around €358m to build, the AfDB said, and will connect the town of N’Zérékoré in Guinea with Sanankoroba in Mali. The project will also result in the connection of 201 villages to the grid. The line is expected to begin operating in 2021.
The AfDB has been involved in the financing and supervision of technical and economic studies as well as environmental and social impact assessments for theproject. According the bank, access to electricity is 41% in Mali and only 18% in Guinea. The line is expected to improve this by increasing the availability of cheap hydropower, as well as creating mining jobs in Guinea.
The line will also tie into the regional power system being developed through large interconnection projects such as the Côte d’Ivoire-Liberia-Sierra Leone-Guinea (CLSG) line.
Also funding the project are the World Bank Group, the European Union, the Islamic Development Bank, the West African Development Bank, the Communauté Economique des Etats de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (Cedeao), and the European Investment Bank.
