Roundup: Nigeriens express dissatisfaction with continued power outages

Sections of the Nigerien population are expressing their dissatisfaction with power outages that have plunged several Nigerien towns, including the capital Niamey in darkness since the start of May.

As it has become a custom, each year during the April-June dry season, Nigeriens are subjected to unbearable power blackouts, which have reached alarming levels this year.

In the last two weeks, most Nigeriens whose lives depend on electric power, have been hoping, day and night, that power will be restored, but without much success.

The situation, according to officials at the Niger Electricity Company, has been caused by the total collapse of the Nigeria electricity distribution network that supplies close to 80 percent of energy used in Niger.

Due to the supply shortage, Niamey has been accorded priority due to "sensitive" installations such as hospitals, army barracks and command centers. But even so, offices, shops and most residential areas in the city still remain in darkness.

Activities have been halted, especially in the offices where most workers can be seen sitting outside. Business has slowed down. In short, Niger's economy has been sharply hit by the power outages.

Consumers have denounced the situation that has left them feeling uneasy. Worst of all, blackouts have resulted in a drastic drop in water distribution within the capital. A small bottle that was being sold for 25 CFA Francs before the power shortage, is now being sold for close to 200 CFA Francs (about 0.4 U.S. dollars) in some parts of Niamey.

The problem of power blackouts persists in Niger despite numerous promises made by authorities to construct power stations to produce sufficient energy.

In 2013, President Mahamadou Issoufou launched the construction of Salkadamna coal-fired power station in Niger's central region. However, not much progress has been made on the construction of the power station which had capacity to produce 500 MW per day.

The government had also planned to construct a high voltage transmission line over a distance of hundreds of kilometers from SORAZ, a hydrocarbon refinery company with Chinese and Nigerien shareholding, to Malbaza through the country's major cities including Zinder and Maradi.

The project was supposed to be constructed with part of a preferential loan worth 1 billion U.S. dollars granted by the China Import-Exim Bank in 2014.

This is in addition to the construction in Niamey of a thermal power plant with a capacity to produce 100 MW. According to Prime Minister Brigi Rafini, the construction of this power plant will be completed towards the end of this year.

In its efforts to find a lasting solution to the electricity problem, the Nigerien government had launched several years ago the construction of Kandadji hydroelectric dam on River Niger.

However, since the government handing over the project in 2013 to a Russian firm by the name Zarubezhvodstroy, no progress has been made.

According to initial plans, the dam whose construction was supposed to end in 2013, was expected to generate over 130 megawatts and produce water to irrigate over 45,000 hectares of land. Endit