The City of Bissau, capital of Guinea-Bissau, had its electricity supply suspended on Tuesday as a result of a dispute over payments.
The power supply company – the Turkish company Karpowership – was reacting to long-standing failure by the country’s electricity and water company to pay its bills. The outstanding amount was reported to have stood at around $15m.
The City of Bissau has a population of some 490 000. The country is poverty-stricken and politically volatile, with a particular danger posed by drug trafficking.
Power was restored after a day and a half, with the payment of several million dollars of the debt. A spokesman for Karpowership said: ‘We are grateful for the government’s efforts to resolve the fuel payments which have allowed for us to restart operations swiftly and continue providing the people of Guinea-Bissau with electricity.’
Karpowership has been supplying the country’s electricity since 2019. It does so elsewhere, and earlier in the year shut off supplies to Sierra Leone over another payment dispute.
Karpowership has been in the news in South Africa, with a possible deal to have its powerships contributing to South Africa’s power supply.