By Olimatou Coker
The Turkish energy company, Karpowership, which provides electricity to the National Water and Electricity Company, on Sunday gave out 60 rams to persons and institutions in the country.
During the presentation ceremony at the company’s offices off Kairaba Avenue, country manager Yankuba Mamburay said the donation of the rams is a further testament to Karpowership’s commitment to living up to its corporate social responsibility.
He said Sunday’s event was the second time in as many years that his company has donated rams to needy people and institutions on the occasion of eid-ul-adha (the Muslim feast of sacrifice).
He said in response to the government’s call for help in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic and amelioration of the economic and health hardships it brought about, Karpowership purchased five ventilators worth millions of dalasis for the Ministry of Health, made donations including food and sanitary materials to the Gambia Police Force, the Banjul City Council, Kerewan Area Council and Mansa Konko Area Council.
Manager Mamburay underlined that although electricity generation is the core business of Karpowership, its corporate philosophy is hinged on giving back to the community.
He explained: “That is why our interventions are holistic. Since Karpowership signed a power purchase agreement with Nawec and started operations in 2018, we have managed to stabilise the electricity supply in the country by providing at least 30MW in the national grid. In our corporate social responsibility interventions, we have periodically given out hundreds of bags of rice and sugar and drums of cooking oil to boarding schools housing indigent children, orphanages and needy individuals.
“We have spent hundreds of thousands of dalasis to fix the water problem at the children’s wing at the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital; we have refurbished, expanded, reequipped and restocked the Gambia National Library branch at Brikama; we have spent hundreds of thousands of dalasis to buy fishing gear and other materials for fishermen and fisherwomen in Banjul; and we have helped the National Environment Agency in marking key events in its annual calendar like the National Environment Day and International Coastal Clean-up Day among other things.”
Mr Mamburay thanked the management of Karpowership in Istanbul, Turkey, notably the regional director for Africa, Emre Durmusoglu, for expediting requests for corporate social responsibility activities.
Natoma Jammeh, one of the recipients of the rams, thanked Karpowership for coming to the aid of needy people like herself in these straitened times compounded by the coronavirus pandemic.
The presentation ceremony was chaired by Sheriff Bojang, a public relations consultant for Karpowership.
