4 April 2012: Director-General of the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Kandeh Yumkella, in an official visit to Sierra Leone, joined President Ernest Bai Koroma to lay the foundation stone of a three megawatt hydro plant in the country’s Bankasoka River.

The hydro plant, which was developed by UNIDO and the Government of China, will provide “green, renewable and sustainable energy” and also benefit the local community in areas such as irrigation, sanitation and drinking water. It will also serve as a learning experience, as the technological approach used in the plant is intended to be replicated in other parts of Sierra Leone.

During the visit, Yumkella, as co-chair of the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Group on Sustainable Energy for All, also officially launched the Sustainable Energy for All initiative in the country, underlining that, improving access to modern energy services is a prerequisite for creating social and economic opportunities for the world’s poorest.

Yumkella, together with the Russian Ambassador to Guinea and Sierra Leone, Aleksandr Bregadze, also took part in a groundbreaking ceremony for a new Fisheries Training Institute, which aims to ensure the availability of skilled labor for the fisheries sector. [UNIDO News Release]