Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09NDJAMENA284
2009-07-13 15:35:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Ndjamena
Cable title:
CHAD'S ELECTRICITY: MORE GENERATION BY 2011, AWAITING
how-toVZCZCXRO6041 PP RUEHBC RUEHBZ RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHKUK RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHROV RUEHTRO DE RUEHNJ #0284 1941535 ZNR UUUUU ZZH P 131535Z JUL 09 FM AMEMBASSY NDJAMENA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7095 INFO RUEHHE/AMEMBASSY HELSINKI 0010 RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
UNCLAS NDJAMENA 000284
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
STATE FOR AF/C AND EEB
LONDON FOR POL - LORD
PARIS FOR POL - KANEDA
ADDIS ABABA FOR AU
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL EINV ENRG PREF CD
SUBJECT: CHAD'S ELECTRICITY: MORE GENERATION BY 2011, AWAITING
COOLER TEMPS IN SHORT TERM
REFTEL: 222 (NOTAL)
-------
SUMMARY
-------
UNCLAS NDJAMENA 000284
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
STATE FOR AF/C AND EEB
LONDON FOR POL - LORD
PARIS FOR POL - KANEDA
ADDIS ABABA FOR AU
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL EINV ENRG PREF CD
SUBJECT: CHAD'S ELECTRICITY: MORE GENERATION BY 2011, AWAITING
COOLER TEMPS IN SHORT TERM
REFTEL: 222 (NOTAL)
--------------
SUMMARY
--------------
1. (SBU) Yaccoub Brahim Djouma, Director General of the national
electric company, had little relief to offer for the weeks-long
power outages that were commonplace in the capital, counting on
replacement parts and cooler temperatures, in a meeting with emboffs
July 6. He outlined a long-term plan to address the electricity
shortage in the capital through two contracts to bring an additional
ninety (90) megawatts of electricity online in the next two years.
Yaccoub, a nephew of President Deby, assured us that the President
was determined to resolve the capital's electricity crisis by 2011,
which is -- not coincidentally -- the date for the next presidential
election. END SUMMARY.
2. (SBU) Electricity problems continue in Chad's capital,
N'Djamena. Residents and businesses routinely suffer from outages
that last weeks; many government offices have been without
electricity for over two weeks. One of the city's two main power
stations has been offline since April, awaiting repairs, while the
second's output has been reduced by cuts in underground transmission
lines (the result of extensive road construction in the city). The
Chadian Water and Electricity Company (STEE) itself lost electricity
during emboffs' meeting with Director General Yaccoub Brahim Djouma,
who recently returned to the position from several years at the
Ministry of Finance.
--------------
SHORT TERM HOPES
--------------
3. (SBU) Yaccoub told emboffs that replacement parts and cooler
temperatures would ameliorate outages in the short term. Necessary
repairs to one plant at Farcha, a northwest suburb of N'Djamena,
would be completed soon and replacement equipment for the damaged
transmission lines had arrived, which would enable both plants to
increase generation capacity shortly. In addition, the rainy
season, due to begin any day, would bring cooler temperatures and
reduce the high demand for electricity. Yaccoub underscored that
President Deby had decided the capital's electricity problems would
be resolved by 2011.
--------------
LONGER-TERM SOLUTIONS
--------------
4. (SBU) Yaccoub outlined the GOC's long-term plan to increase
power generation in the capital. He stated that the government had
recently signed a contract for a new plant of 60 megawatts (MW) to
be located in Farcha. The French subsidiary of Finnish company
Wartsilia would do the construction, having already built other
plants in Chad. Yaccoub said that the European Union had also
agreed to build a new 30 MW plant, with the EU financing 20 MWs and
the GOC financing the remaining 10 MWs. The location of the
EU-financed plant had not yet been determined, according to Yaccoub,
but would likely also be northwest of the city. He said that both
plants are expected to be operational in eighteen to twenty-four
months.
5. (U) Minimize considered.
NIGRO
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
STATE FOR AF/C AND EEB
LONDON FOR POL - LORD
PARIS FOR POL - KANEDA
ADDIS ABABA FOR AU
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL EINV ENRG PREF CD
SUBJECT: CHAD'S ELECTRICITY: MORE GENERATION BY 2011, AWAITING
COOLER TEMPS IN SHORT TERM
REFTEL: 222 (NOTAL)
--------------
SUMMARY
--------------
1. (SBU) Yaccoub Brahim Djouma, Director General of the national
electric company, had little relief to offer for the weeks-long
power outages that were commonplace in the capital, counting on
replacement parts and cooler temperatures, in a meeting with emboffs
July 6. He outlined a long-term plan to address the electricity
shortage in the capital through two contracts to bring an additional
ninety (90) megawatts of electricity online in the next two years.
Yaccoub, a nephew of President Deby, assured us that the President
was determined to resolve the capital's electricity crisis by 2011,
which is -- not coincidentally -- the date for the next presidential
election. END SUMMARY.
2. (SBU) Electricity problems continue in Chad's capital,
N'Djamena. Residents and businesses routinely suffer from outages
that last weeks; many government offices have been without
electricity for over two weeks. One of the city's two main power
stations has been offline since April, awaiting repairs, while the
second's output has been reduced by cuts in underground transmission
lines (the result of extensive road construction in the city). The
Chadian Water and Electricity Company (STEE) itself lost electricity
during emboffs' meeting with Director General Yaccoub Brahim Djouma,
who recently returned to the position from several years at the
Ministry of Finance.
--------------
SHORT TERM HOPES
--------------
3. (SBU) Yaccoub told emboffs that replacement parts and cooler
temperatures would ameliorate outages in the short term. Necessary
repairs to one plant at Farcha, a northwest suburb of N'Djamena,
would be completed soon and replacement equipment for the damaged
transmission lines had arrived, which would enable both plants to
increase generation capacity shortly. In addition, the rainy
season, due to begin any day, would bring cooler temperatures and
reduce the high demand for electricity. Yaccoub underscored that
President Deby had decided the capital's electricity problems would
be resolved by 2011.
--------------
LONGER-TERM SOLUTIONS
--------------
4. (SBU) Yaccoub outlined the GOC's long-term plan to increase
power generation in the capital. He stated that the government had
recently signed a contract for a new plant of 60 megawatts (MW) to
be located in Farcha. The French subsidiary of Finnish company
Wartsilia would do the construction, having already built other
plants in Chad. Yaccoub said that the European Union had also
agreed to build a new 30 MW plant, with the EU financing 20 MWs and
the GOC financing the remaining 10 MWs. The location of the
EU-financed plant had not yet been determined, according to Yaccoub,
but would likely also be northwest of the city. He said that both
plants are expected to be operational in eighteen to twenty-four
months.
5. (U) Minimize considered.
NIGRO