The project commenced in July 2015 . BES  faced a variety of challenges, caused primarily by densely populated settlements which encroached onto the wayleaves along the entire overhead line route. In addition we faced  hard, rocky ground which was exceptionally difficult to excavate for tower foundations. This, together with  the poor transport infrastructure in Freetown, presented us with many design limitations and  operational challenges which we had to overcome. 

Unfortunately this period also coincided with the outbreak of the ebola epidemic  which resulted in many deaths in Sierra Leone and across neighbouring countries. BES continued works throughout the crisis, despite interruptions to international travel and  limited transport routes into the country. The contract period also coincided with one of the country's highest annual rainfalls in memory, which culminated in a catastrophic landslide in Freetown which killed many hundreds of people. Despite these challenges, BES completed all works in mid 2017, and Freetown is enjoying the benefits of a much improved distribution network.

Background 

The National Power Authority (NPA) of Sierra Leone (now renamed EDSA) was suffering from low revenue collection rates from its customers and early attempts at initiating a prepaid metering and revenue management system were proving unreliable.