Sierra Leone "ready" for high return investment in energy and infrastructure
23 October 2009
President of Sierra Leone Ernest Bai Koroma announced during the recent European Development meetings that the country was now "ready" for high return investment.
Saying the areas of energy, infrastructure, agriculture and health would be of particular interest, he added: "Wherever you look in Sierra Leone, you see untapped opportunities, many of which we will be showcasing to private investors at our first international Trade and Investment Forum in London on November 18th.
He drew attention to the country's hydro energy potential, which despite being estimated at 1200MW is being underexploited with only five per cent being effectively harnessed.
The recent completion of the Bumbuna Dam was said by the president to have been effectively providing sustainable hydro electricity to Freetown and other areas, with Japanese developers currently working on transmission structure improvement.
On an infrastructure level, he pointed on that with EU and other developers' help, the nation's 12 core road building projects were making good headway and would be completed by the end of 2012.