Prefos Limited, a local electrical engineering company, has pledged to offer technical support to The Gambia in the implementation of a street lighting installation project.
In line with this, a team from The Gambia would understudy the operations of the Ghanaian company to build their capacity to install streetlights in the rural areas of the West African country.
Mrs Philomena Owusu-Ansah, the General Manager, Prefos Limited, said technical expertise had become crucial, especially with electrification in the contemporary times.
It is, therefore, not out of place to work closely with other nationals who needed training to meet the emerging needs of the people, she noted.
Mrs Owusu-Ansah said this when Ms Fatoumata Jahumpa Ceesay, The Gambian Ambassador to South Africa, paid a working visit to Prefos Ltd in Kumasi to acquaint herself with the activities of the company.
The Ambassador took advantage of the opportunity to tour the company’s factory, inspect its assembling plants and have deeper discussions with management on the way forward for The Gambia street lighting and electrical capacity building project.
She as accompanied by Mr Nyassi Musa Amul, a former Minister of Local Government and Lands.
Over the period Prefos Ltd had played a significant role in Ghana’s rural and urban electrification drive, partnering with the Government through Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiatives to deliver on key projects in various parts of the country, Mrs Owusu-Ansah said.
As part of the company’s strategic expansion initiative, it is currently working to extend services to other countries in the West African sub-Region.
It had already registered in Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Niger, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Cote d’Ivoire and had aligned with a firm in Egypt to work together in street lighting, flood lighting, solar panel, and LED logistical and technical support, including packaging, technical data, and finance to build assembling plants.
Mrs Owusu-Ansah called on the Gambia team to create and facilitate opportunities for Prefos to be well positioned to support the Government in the street lighting and electrical capacity building drive for the youth of that country.
Ms Ceesay said countries in the sub-region must leverage on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Protocols on Integration to support each other to progress.
“We must start from somewhere if we want to make Africa great, why won’t we support Prefos Limited if they are ready to light not only Accra and West Africa, but the Continent and beyond,” she said.
She expressed the optimism that the company’s technical expertise would go a long way to help The Gambia to resolve street lighting challenges, especially in the rural areas.
