Document: Mali is pressed to pay an 'enormous debt' for a regional dam
A letter obtained by reveals that Mali owes over $94 million to an entity which manages a dam, which provides electricity to Senegal, Mauritania and other countries. The debt is "a matter of life or death" to its ability to operate, the letter states.
The funding gap is a warning sign of further electricity supply problems for Mali. Outages have weakened public support in recent years for the military-led government which took power in coups in 2020-2021.
Manantali Dam and Power Plant was installed in 2002 with a capacity of 200 Megawatts. Its production is distributed to Mali, Senegal and Mauritania.
According to a letter sent by SOGEM on April 25 to the director general of Mali's electricity utility, Energie du Mali (Mali), Mali owes SOGEM "an enormous amount" of more than 54 billion CFA francs (94.12 millions) for the management of Manantali, among other projects.
The letter, signed by Mohamed Mahmoud Sid'Elemine, director-general of SOGEM, reads: "It's now a matter of life and death for our installation as well as for SOGEM."
The debt is not clear if it stems from Manantali costs or any other expenses. A source from the utility said that the majority of the debt was accrued in the past year.
The utility didn't immediately respond to our request for a comment.
The letter hails the Manantali Project as a success for regional co-operation that cost hundreds billions of CFA Francs to implement.
Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger all belong to the Alliance of Sahel States. They announced their departure from the West African political and economic bloc called ECOWAS last year. ($1 = 573.7500 CFA francs). (Reporting and writing by Idrissa Singare; Editing and proofreading by Aide Lewis)
(source: Reuters)
