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The Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea interconnection project has created a total of 31,227 direct jobs and 3,726 indirect jobs from the local employment, the General Manager of TRANSCO CLSG has disclosed.
Mr. Mohammed M. Sherif said those employed are from the beneficiary countries and that number is expected to grow as the construction phase of the project continues.
The General Manager also said the ESMP component of the CLSG interconnection project remains compliant with donor guidelines and national regulations.
He explained that with the outbreak of COVID-19, TRANSCO CLSG prepared a COVID-19 response strategy that was implemented at the headquarters, country, and field offices, as well as by the EPC Contractors and Owners Engineer.
However, the General Manager disclosed that the CLSG project implementation phase recorded 21 positive cases out of 99 employees tested as at July 31, 2020 in Liberia. The 21 positive cases were treated, fully recovered, and discharged from the various treatment centers.
He said the reforestation activity has been completed in Côte d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone and Guinea and it is ongoing in Liberia. To date, the CLSG Donors and Environmental Protection Agencies (EPA) have conducted ten (10) supervision missions and eighteen (18) monitoring exercises respectively in EHS (Environmental, Health and Safety) activities along the construction sites.
For the Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) component of the CLSG project, compensation of persons affected by the project (PAPs) have been completed, and the entire line corridor and substation locations handed over to EPC Contractors in the four (4) countries.
For access roads, compensation of PAPs has also been completed in Côte d’Ivoire and Sierra Leone. However, the travel restrictions and closure of land borders arising from COVID-19 hampered the valuation of assets for access roads in Liberia and Guinea. It is envisaged that with the easing of these restrictions, the compensation for assets within the access roads will resume.
The grievance management process has been robust as 98% of the complaints recorded in affected communities were addressed successfully, the General Manager explained. According to him, stakeholder engagements and information and awareness campaigns have enabled the smooth implementation of the CLSG project without significant disruptions.