By Tabora Bojang
The country manager of Turkish electricity company, Karpowership Omar AB Njie, has clarified that the company was paid all arrears owed to it by the Gambia government totalling US$19.6 million, a few weeks after its contract expired and was now renewed.
Appearing before the National Assembly last Wednesday, Finance Minister Seedy Keita disclosed that The Gambia government is about to receive US$45 million in budget support for 2025 from the World Bank and that part of this money will be used to pay off the Karpower “arrears upon the termination” of the its contract. He said the arrears owed to Karpower was US$19.6 million which he said will be taken from the US$45 million World Bank is set to provide.
But the head of The Gambia office of the Turkish company told The Standard yesterday: “ I want to clarify that we [Karpower] do not have any arrears with the National Water and Electricity Company (Nawec) nor the Government of The Gambia. I also want to clarify that our contract was not terminated as stated by the minister. Our contract expired by 2nd May, 2025 and they decided not to renew it and a few weeks after they paid us all the arrears that were owed. We sent them an invoice in dollars amounting to US$19.6 million. On 16th May, 2025, we received a payment of Euro(€) 17,999,458.87 through the Central Bank of The Gambia. But there was an exchange rate difference because we invoiced them in dollars and we were paid in Euros, so Nawec later paid US$273,000 and that was around July. So, by the end of July 2025 we were completely paid. We do not have any arrears with Nawec nor the Government of The Gambia. They paid us all the arrears that were owed,” Njie stated.
In response to conflicting reports since we headlined the news on our Friday edition, the Ministry of Finance issued a statement on its Facebook page which read: “Karpowership was fully paid earlier this year through an advance payment made by the Government of The Gambia. This advance was made on the understanding that, once the World Bank disburses the approved US$45 million package, the government will be reimbursed for the Karpower arrears already settled. It is therefore correct that: The Minister’s briefing to the National Assembly regarding the use of World Bank funds to settle Karpower arrears is accurate, and while Karpowership has already received payment, the World Bank financing will still cover the arrears via reimbursement of the advance provided by the government. The ministry confirms that there is no discrepancy between the parties involved. This was a sequencing matter — government paid first, and the World Bank will reimburse upon disbursement.”
