7 Schools Visit Addax Project Sites
Pupils from seven Secondary Schools in Makeni and Magburaka Towns on Tuesday 12th June, 2012 made a day’s field trip to the Addax Bio Energy Company –Sierra Leone Project operational areas in Kontobie, Malal Mara Chiefdom, Tonkolili District.
The seven schools are St. Francis, Benevolent Islamic, SLMB, Alison Memorial, Magburaka Boys, Mathora and Modern School of Sciences.
Aminata Isha Kamara, Addax Social Welfare Manager, who led the pupils on a conducted tour of the facilities, enlightened them about the company’s operational plans for both Bombali and Tonkolili Districts.
Madam Aminata Isha Kamara further disclosed that to sustain the project, over 500 acreages of sugarcane have been cultivated while construction of the ethanol plant and factory are ongoing and revealed that production of ethanol would commence in November 2013.
She continued that the company would also provide 30 megawatts electricity for communities in its operational areas at a minimum cost and also enlightened that ADDAX has operated in the oil business in Africa for 25 years but that due to climate change and other factors, the company switched to bio-energy.
The Addax Social Welfare Manager revealed that the project’s Social and Environmental Impact Assessment has five steps that include; mitigation; compensation; stakeholders engagement; Environmental Social Impact Assessment (ESHIA) and land lease processes noting, “the company promised to transform the lives of landowners in its operational areas, ninety-six villages are within those areas and we have employed about 1,668 workers, mostly indigenes in our operational areas.”
According to Madam Kamara, the project would attract young graduates in different disciplines to be trained in various professional areas through a combination of on-the-job training under the mentorship of an experienced Manager with continued academic support and assured that on graduation, trainees would ultimately be absorbed into the company.
“Ethanol production is an entirely new sector in Sierra Leone. Furthermore, the scheme would encourage new graduates to be trained in management skills,” she concluded.
A video clip on the Brazil Ethanol Manufacturing Company was screened illustrating the various processes of ethanol extraction and production whilst a question and answer session climaxed the event.
By A. R. Bedor
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