Managing Director of the National Water and Electricity Company (NAWEC), Galo Saidy, has warned that electricity outages affecting parts of The Gambia could continue for another one to two weeks as technical problems within the OMVG regional power network remain unresolved.

Speaking in an interview with West Coast Radio, Saidy said the disruptions are linked to technical challenges affecting electricity suppliers in Senegal and Guinea and are largely beyond NAWEC’s control.

“This is a technical issue that is beyond NAWEC’s control. It is the power supply that is coming from the OMVG line. The suppliers have technical issues right now; both Senegal and Guinea also have issues,” he said.

The warning comes as households and businesses continue to grapple with prolonged blackouts during the Tobaski period, with many residents expressing frustration over food spoilage, disrupted business activities and unreliable electricity supply.

According to Saidy, The Gambia is currently participating in load-sharing arrangements aimed at protecting the stability of the regional electricity grid.

“We also have to load share because the OMVG is a regional line, so if we don’t load share, we take more than what we should be taking; it can destabilise the whole grid,” he explained.

Despite the regional challenges, Saidy said NAWEC continues to rely on local power generation and solar energy to reduce the impact of the outages.

“So we are generating locally from our own generators, plus we also have the solar plant, so those are the ones that are actually helping us,” he said.

The NAWEC boss indicated that normal electricity supply may not return immediately, saying information received from regional suppliers suggests the situation could take up to two weeks to stabilise.

“I would say probably maximum, with the information I’m getting from our suppliers, at least another week or two. Within the next two weeks, we should be able to go back to normality,” he said.

By Adama Makasuba