EFFECTS OF ELECTRICITY IN SOCIAL SERVICES (SCHOOLS , HEALTH CENTERS) AND WORK AND POSSIBLE WAYS WE CAN COUP WITH IT.

INTRODUCTION

Somalia which lies the horn of Africa is one of the poorest countries in the world, it is recovering from 26 years of civil wars which paralyzed the infrastructure of the country including the energy sources, during the civil wars the state owned energy company ENEE (Ente Nazionale Energia Elettrica) the national utility operating a national grid which was serving in the cities of Mogadishu, Hargeisa, Berbera, Gardo, Erigavo, Merka, Bossasso, Burao, Kismayo, and Badoa shuted down and ministry of electricity was inactive.

However, somalia is currently enjoying a totally privatization of electricy which partially filled the role of the government, thought they covered the electricity needs of the major cities,still they are tackling with unaffordable prices and less power of generating more energy, during this photo essay i will interview representatives from the both private compnies and ministry of electricity and water resources, also i will show how electricity in the country effected negatively in the health, schools, and workplaces.

At the end of this study i will come up with some proposed solutions which will mitigate or stop the bad effects of the electricity on social services and workplaces by quoting different stakeholders of this issue,

Here is a traffic street inside Mogadishu, the long wall is the center of ex state owned energy company ENEE which currently repaired and reside by private company called BECO (Banadir electric company), inside the wall there is a motor which works on 24hours and generates more power, the opposite of the wall there is an hospital called Iqra medical and surgery hospital which it’s door standing by a young nursing boy as you can see from the picture, the patients, workers and administration have problems from the sound of the motor,

The hospital patients also suffering from the sound of the cars and motorcyles which regularly use the streat as you can also see from picture, also the businesss near the motor facing sound pollution from it.

This is another picture shows how the electricity negatively effects the social services and works, this building is an accommodation for the same company of BECO, a hospital called lafoole, and a factory which processes the fish, though BECO uses this building as only for office still every day the company workers with ladders, wires and other electricity tools comes the building which may affect the attached hospital and factory, beside these social centers and works appeared in the picture there are other shops, and pharmacies which reside here.

This picture again shows the WIIF electricity and Water Supply Company motor which attached to ANAS BIN MALIK primary and secondary school, this school has nearly 2,000 students in the two shifts, and the motor works all day by generating more power and makes waste pollution to the near environment, the people reside near to this motor have difficulties for communicating because of the heavy sound of the motor, some people believe that schools and hospitals reside near the motors since the rent is too cheap because of the pollution, but those social centers ignore the interest and health of their customers including patients and students.

This two attached pictures taken from two different angles shows the same company of WIIF which releases waste pollution to the near environment, the tubes are not controlled well so this company produces more supply of water, and everyone who passes this street feels bad smell.

I interviewed Engineer Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulle, the director of renewable energy department of the ministry of electricity and water supply, Abdulkadir who was in his car while he was giving me the interview answer many questions related to this topic, he told me that there are many environmental social and economic problems in the electricity in Somalia including:

·         Very high dependence on unmanaged and unsustainable biomass energy(86% of the somali electricity are generated from Biomas)

·         Threat to desertification

·         Health hazard to women and children

·         Too much time and energy spent to collect biomass

·         Inefficient traditional stoves, etc.

·         Rural poor unable to change their way of life due to lack of modern energy

·         Existing electricity tariffs do not cover costs. Cost of 1kW is 1USD.

·         Lack of penetration by the private sector

·         Heavy dependence on imported oil

·         In the rough 90% of the Somali population has no access to electric power

He also told me that ENEE used to produce 170 MW - 190 MW, but current private companies only produce 30 to 40 MW, he adds that Somalia is experiencing low quality of distribution networks, he also said that the ministry is planning to prepare regulations to the private electric companies,

Engineer Abdurrahman Ibrahim Isse, is a secretary at engineering department of Mogadishu power supply company, the first question I asked was, if they have bad effect to the social services and works, and he said to me that before they rent a center they make sure that there are no social service centers near such as schools, MCH, hospitals and etc. he also told me that they have social responsibility policies including free electric to the near houses, business, and giving internship to the electrical engineering students, and low charge to the needy people,

He said to me that one of the electrical problems in Somalia is the high price of kilowatts, he told me that they are planning to make Somali electricity as cheap as India and Sudan, he said the cost of kilowatt in India is around 0.00 and something rupee which costs only $3.5 per month, also Sudan is enjoying $0.12 per kilowatt, he prolonged the problems which Somali industries inherited from high cost of electricity he took as example industry which produces pasta based in Kuwait that spends electricity cost $1800 only per month, and Somali industry which produces bread which spends electricity cost $50,000 per month.

He said to me that one of Somali investors tried to establish industry which makes Ice cream and sweets, and when the estimated cost of electricity becomes $25,000 per month, he decided not to do it.

Abdifitah Elmi Osoble, is a branch manager At Blue sky company for electricity, this company is one of two companies which have full social responsibility policy, they succeeded to make their motors out of City, also they don’t have any bad effect to social service centers,

 Abdifitah Hassan Alasow is deputy finance director at WIIF electric and water supply Company, this company has bad effect to the environment and social service centers as you see in this study, it makes waste pollutions to the environment, also one of their motors attached to school, he told me that all their motors are inside the city,

When The administration of BECO which is the most polluted company beside WIIF rejected to give an interview to this study without reasoning, fortunately one of my co-workers connected me to one of their branch managers called Hassan Abdullahi Mohamed, thought he rejected me to take a picture from him he told me that, they make planning before they place their motors in an area, he also said “we have social responsibility policy by giving aid contribution to the famine effected people in the country, and free or discounted electric service to schools, mosques, public places, such as roads, streets and etc.” he also mentioned that that they have automatic switches/circuit picker in case of electricity risk occur.

PROPOSED SOLUTIONS

By quoting the above mentioned interviewees of this study the most suggested solutions to Somali electricity are as follows:

1.      To rebuild ENEE, Somali Energy Managing Agency, namely to build a new power plant.

2.      To establish public enterprises which provide cheap electric service to the citizens and compete with private companies.

3.      To make firefighters in case of electrical risk problems or fire exploded, now the ministry of electricity has no any firefighters or any other policy in case of this risk comes.

4.      To move from fuel/gas energy to solar energy, if this happens the citizens will enjoy low cheap, affordable and 24 hours service of electricity , and if the electricity becomes cheap the production of industries will increase that enhance the economic and well-being of the country, and the employment, will increase(currently BECO generates only 2.5 megawatt from solar energy)

5.      To practice effective social responsibility policies, including automatic switches, free or low charge of electric to social service centers and public goods/places.

6.      Flexible government: in Somalia the politics is unstable, sometimes the cabinet only exists less than in one month due to the conflict between prime minister and the president, so the data about electricity is not stored well, thus it is very important that any minister who is leaving from the office should transfer the data to the new minister,

7.      Training to the workers: currently the workers of the private companies are mostly unskilled and less trained, the director of renewable department told me that the workers of the private companies don’t get any training services from the ministry due to the insecurity threat from Islamic extremist of Al-shabaab, this group may target those workers in case they interact with the government.

8.      Regulations from the ministry of electricity to private electricity companies: currently there are no Regulations from the ministry of electricity to private electricity companies, so this should done as soon as possible.

9.      Safe and reliable electric distribution system in the country, The current system is useless and complicated.

10.  Capacity building

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

I conducted this study in the capital city of Mogadishu, where I interviewed 5 representatives from the four working private companies in Mogadishu and ministry of electricity and water supply, also I contacted to different people in the other 17 regions in the country, they told me that private companies covered the electricity need of the capital cities of the regions, but other towns get difficulties with the availability of electricity, also I knew that mostly the people in the major cities of the country have access of internet, though it costs arm and leg,

It took me 18 days to finish this study I want to thank all people who helped me during this study, including electric companies and ministry it concerned, and some of my friends who connected me to some of the managers of the private companies,