Mali - Electricity Sector Improvement Project : Additional Financing

Overview & Synopsis

The development objective of the Mali Electricity Sector Improvement Project (MESIP) for Mali is to improve the reliability and efficiency of electricity supply in Bamako and the technical and commercial performance of the national power utility Energie du Mali (EDM). The additional financing is provided to address a cost overrun that emerged after detailed feasibility studies revealed that the scale and cost of transmission and distribution reinforcements had been underestimated at appraisal, ensuring completion of priority network investments originally envisioned and restoring coherence between targets and resources. The Bank will focus on reinforcing and modernizing core grid infrastructure under the transmission and distribution component, including the acquisition of a 225/150/15 kilovolt mobile substation and upgrades to existing substations to increase flexibility and provide resilient backup capacity, the rehabilitation and reinforcement of critical 30 kilovolt and 15 kilovolt lines along existing routes such as Balingue to Balkou, Darsalam to Kati, and Lafia to Kati, and the reinforcement of overloaded public distribution substations in Bamako and surrounding areas to relieve congestion and improve service quality. These works will be implemented on existing sites without new land acquisition, integrate climate-resilient features such as underground cabling where needed, and be supported by ongoing project mechanisms for procurement, contract oversight, citizen engagement, and grievance redress. The project intends to deliver tangible system performance gains, including increased transformer capacity and rehabilitated network corridors to improve power evacuation, a reduction in system losses from 20 percent to 19.8 percent by 2027, enhanced reliability and reduced outage frequency and duration for households and businesses already connected, protection of the quality of supply for previously connected beneficiaries, and incremental progress toward updated intermediate targets for total lines constructed or rehabilitated and transformer capacity installed. Complementary activities from the parent project continued during implementation, such as installation of smart meters for large consumers, deployment of a management information system and a geographical information system to support commercial and operational functions, and a call center that strengthens consumer feedback and service responsiveness, while gender-sensitive implementation supports the training of women staff within EDM. Together, the additional financing investments complete critical backbone reinforcements, help secure near-term reliability improvements in Bamako, and consolidate operational results that underpin the development objective.