The Cameroon-Chad Electricity Grid Interconnection Project (Pirect) is set to receive close to US$ 306M financial boost from the World Bank Group.
This came to light following a financing agreement signed in Yaoundé, the capital city of Cameroon, between the international financial institution and the government of the West African country represented by Alamine Ousmane Mey, the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Development of the territory (Minepat).
An overview of the Cameroon-Chad Electricity Grid Interconnection Project
PIRECT stems from the desire of Cameroon and Chad to optimize the use of their energy resources by integrating their power generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure.
It will involve the construction of a 225 kV high-voltage (HV) main transmission line between Ngaoundéré and Maroua both in Cameroon, and N’Djamena in Chad; and a 225 kV high-voltage link between Maroua in Cameroon, and Bongor, Guelendeng, and N’Djamena in Chad.
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The project also includes the construction of related high-voltage (HV)/medium-voltage (MV) transformer stations; and rural electrification distribution networks along transmission line corridors. In total, about 1 024 kilometers of HV transmission lines, 786 kilometers of which will be in Cameroon and 238 kilometers in Chad, will be constructed, and 478 localities, 409 of them in Cameroun and 69 in Chad along these lines electrified.
Importance of the project
Besides interconnecting the power generation and transmission infrastructure of Cameroon and Chad, thus significantly reducing the production costs of their respective national electricity corporations i.e. Société Nationale de Transport d’Électricité, SONATREL and Société Nationale de l’Électricité, SNE, PIRECT will, through the electrification of the localities along the interconnection lines, help to increase the electricity access rate in both countries, thus contributing to improving the living conditions of the population and reducing poverty.
