By Ragan M. Conteh

The management of the Infinitum Energy Group (IEG) has urged President Julius Maada Bio government to look into the delayed negotiations for the 30 megawatts electricity project in Sierra Leone.

The $198 million projects through waste management will settle and finally overcome the perennial problem of electricity in the capital, Freetown.

Addressing journalists at the Special Court, New Englandville in Freetown, the Director of the Infinitum Energy Group Waste to Energy Sierra Leone Ltd, Dr. Yassin Kargbo said the company intends to end the suffering of Freetown due to frequent electricity cutoff.

He said since 2021, the company has gone through vigorous negotiations for the project to start, disclosing that the documents are currently at the Power Purchase Agreement’s office in the Ministry of Energy with no headway to kick start the project and still waiting for the Ministry to get back to the company.

He spoke about the huge revenue generation, massive employment opportunities as well as the cleanliness of the city of Freetown.

Dr. Kargbo further detailed how the project will not only produce clean electricity but will also adhere to the 10% corporate social responsibility.

He therefore pleaded with President Bio to look into the contract agreement between the government and Infinitum Energy group for a lasting solution for the electricity problem in Sierra Leone.

Kyle Newell, the lead Impact Ventures at Impact Pathways, a sustainability consultancy working with IEG to support the design and implementation of sustainable infrastructure projects, said they are proud to be part of this initiative, working alongside national and local partners to help turn wastes into value for Sierra Leone.

He said the vision of the project is not only to generate clean, reliable energy but to support the development of a broader, system for managing wastes in a way that delivers environmental, economic, and social value.

Newell added that, across the world, in both emerging and industrialized economies, they have seen that as waste systems mature, they begin to function more like essential services—with well-defined roles for public institutions, communities and the private sector.

He disclosed that countries as diverse as Rwanda, Colombia, South Africa and Indonesia have taken steps to build these systems—not by replicating a single model, but by designing approaches suited to their context.

Here in Sierra Leone, he revealed, IEG sees a similar opportunity; to build a waste ecosystem that supports energy production, job creation, public health, and environmental resilience.

However, he said, Across Africa, few waste-to-energy projects have reached scale—often due to challenges with financing, consistent feedstock, or enabling regulation but noted that they have an opportunity to do things differently and encouraged Sierra Leone to take a lead on waste to energy generation.

Kyle Newell told journalists that one common feature of successful waste-to-energy projects globally is a blended approach to cost recovery. This includes revenue from electricity sales and structured support for waste collection and processing.

He said the process is globally recognized as a way to ensure the infrastructure can operate reliably while delivering safe, consistent waste disposal services.

Jonathan Rubin, who is the Stakeholders Engagement and Community Strategist also, said that the project will mitigate the much talked about garbage as well as create huge employment for Sierra Leone.

Moreover, the management has called for swift intervention of President Julius Maada Bio to take off the bottlenecks that hold up the project.