BY IBRAHIM JOENAL SESAY
232NEWS, FREETOWN —
In line with his dream of contributing in the transformation of Sierra Leone’s Mining and Aquaculture sector, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Seawright Mining Company, Dr. Alfred Seawright has donated 15 KW Fish feed extruder machine and 70 KVA Solar Panel, Gel Solar Battery Power to Njala University School of Natural Resources Management, Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries Management in Moyamba District, South of Sierra Leone.
The donated items were received by the Head of Department for Aquaculture and Fisheries Management who is also the Technical Coordinator for Dr. Seawright RAS, Dr. Matthew D. Kpundeh and his team.
After receiving the items, Dr. Kpundeh described the day as a happy one as one of their greatest challenges as a nation in the area of aquaculture feeds has been solved.
Dr. Kpundeh recalled that during the visit of Dr. Seawright together with Madam Mollie R. Smith from the Auburn University in the United States after the installation of his self-funded fish farming project at the University, the issue of electricity was among their top discussion and he promised to address the energy crisis for the growth of the industry.
“Though we can produce our feed but we don’t have the power that will produce the quantity of feed we want,” Dr. Kpundeh said.
He added that “Today, we have seen the consignment of the solar energy facility that will be installed at the department for power, a total of 70KVA with Gel Batteries and advance solar panel to provide the energy that is needed to run the facility of the feed.”
He disclosed that about 10 years ago, through another project they got fish feed extruder machine but that Dr. Seawright has also provided additional 15 KW Fish feed extruder machine to help in the increase of production.
He also said that before this time Dr. Seawright donated 30KVA generator for the running of the department but they were in need of additional power because the University is running two phase power while they needed three phase power to run those machines.
He said the donated power will help them to provide more feed for Sierra Leoneans as they have been training their students on how they can produce more feeds among others.
Dr. Kpundeh on behalf of the University administration and his department extended their thanks and appreciation to Dr. Alfred Seawright for such support not only to Njala University but to the Eastern Technical University and Kono with a state-of-the-art Recirculatory Aquaculture System (RAS) facility.
“Dr. Seawright investment in Sierra Leone is laudable, it is one that stretches all his arms on things that has to do with fish production as well as mining,” Dr. Kpundeh stated.
He maintained that Njala University is already ahead of fish farming as the donated items is going to scale up their activity as well as their productions.
He said the mindset of Dr. Seawright is for Sierra Leone to be the center of excellence in the sub region when it comes to fish farming.
“All his donations are state of the art modern technical equipment. No doubt Sierra Leone through Njala will be on top. Very soon we are going on full scale productions,” he stated.
Njala University Procurement Officer, Lamin Bangura confirmed that Dr. Seawright has been making donations to the Aquaculture Department and quite recently they received a consignment of solar panels, inverters and charge controllers among others.
He said he always admires Dr. Seawright based on the quality of items he donates as most times when people donate, they donate things of less quality but that it is not the case for Dr. Seawright’s donations.
“In fact, the batters are one of the best batters that can last up to ten years, far better as compared to what we have in the market,” he said.
He disclosed that last year they received other sets of equipment which are supposed to be the recycling system but they were challenged with power.
“Now we have the power from Dr. Seawright, it can put us ahead of Aquaculture productions in the country,” he said.
He advised the department to take full care of it and also get the right expert to do the installation and for them to maintain it.
“If we can put it into proper use, I believe Njala University and the department will be in a better position to disseminate the information across the country and even benefit neighboring countries,” he concluded.
