Senegal in dark as power cuts halt activity

DAKAR (Reuters) - Dakar was known as "little Paris" during the post-colonial era because its sophistication evoked France's glittering "City of Lights" -- but these days the Senegalese capital is frequently plunged into darkness.

Soaring fuel prices and lack of investment in the creaking state-run electricity sector have caused lengthy power cuts in the city of more than 2 million people.

"In my neighbourhood, we can sometimes go at least eight hours a day without electricity," said 51-year-old Astou Ndiaye, who lives in the sprawling suburb of Parcelles Assainies.

The worsening power shortages have transformed life in the breezy seaside capital.

Mothers trek to the market every day to buy fresh produce as anything left over rots in the tropical heat, while children scribble their homework by candlelight in the evenings.

Blessed with decades of peace since independence from France in 1960, Dakar's infrastructure has long been the envy of West African capitals left stripped and shaken by war.

Now it has something in common with the Liberian capital Monrovia or Sierra Leone's Freetown, where generators are a must if one wants to power one's home or keep a business running.

"There has been a buying rush recently on generators. Our stock is completely sold out," said Cherif Aidara, salesman in one of Dakar's main generator shops. "Small, medium and big businesses that can't rely anymore on the national electricity company, buy bigger generators."

Business leaders say the power shortages will hurt economic development, just as power cuts have held back growth elsewhere on the continent.

"When there is no power we don't produce, so it will have an impact in 2006 on economic growth," said Baidy Agne, President of Senegal's National Business Council.

ERA OF CANDLES

Chronic power shortages across Africa are undermining investment, industrial development and growth, officials say.

East African countries like Tanzania and Uganda have been hit this year by power shortages caused by drought.

In other countries, long-standing shortages have been compounded by higher oil prices, with some countries, which import oil products to generate power, introducing rolling blackouts to curb spending.

Dakar has long suffered seasonal blackouts, but outages have been much worse in recent months. For Dakar's older generation, the burgeoning city appears to be headed into decline.

Despite economic reforms in the mid-1990s which spurred growth, Senegal still relies heavily on foreign aid to balance its budget and its infrastructure has suffered from a perennial lack of investment.

"These power cuts were very rare when we were young. Now it's a very, very common thing. This is a real decline in our lifestyle," Ousmane Diouf, a 42-year-old teacher, said.

"We are now back to the era of candles."

The cuts also threaten President Abdoulaye Wade's plan to turn Senegal into a technology and services hub for West Africa.

The country has one of the region's most sophisticated communications networks, but computer science student Souleymane Diop complained that without reliable power, it was worthless.

"We hardly do any practical exercises because there is no juice. We can't start our computers," he said.

Cash-strapped state power company Senelec has blamed the blackouts on a decline in fuel supplies, saying oil companies had not delivered diesel oil.

But local oil refining companies say Senelec has failed to pay bills totalling $17 million (9 million pounds).

In the last two years, fuel expenses for Senelec have almost doubled from 6 billion CFA francs (6.2 million pounds) to 10 billion CFA (10.4 million pounds) per month.

Morocco's SAMIR oil refinery has pledged to ship one cargo each of diesel oil and heavy fuel to help Senelec end the power shortage.

CHINESE AID

Despite abundant natural resources, many African countries suffer from a lack of electricity infrastructure -- leading oil-producer Nigeria needs four to five times the 2,600 megawatts (MW) of power it generates.

In an internal report, Senelec said there was a huge production deficit due to growing demand and delays in investment.

In a bid to bridge the gap, China has pledged to build a 250 MW coal-fired power station in Senegal -- just six months after Beijing and Dakar restored diplomatic ties in October.

The announcement came during a visit to the Chinese capital last month by Senegalese Prime Minister Macky Sall. Ties were renewed between the two countries after Dakar ended its relations with Taiwan late last year.

But there is still little prospect of immediate relief.

Earlier this month, hundreds of people took to the streets of Dakar to protest against difficult living conditions.