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20 - 26 Feb.
UNIDOScope 2005 CONTENTS:
urging UEMOA industries to meet international standards
Dakar, Senegal 25 January - 3 February, 2005
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Three separate events took place in Dakar Senegal between 25 January and 3 February 2005 as part of UNIDO's efforts to assist Senegal with the development of its productive capacities and its ability to participate in international trade: STEP 2005, 25 - 29 January; the launching of the National Programme of Upgrading (Programme de Mise à Niveau des Entreprises Sénégalaises), 1 February; and the launching of Senegal's National Quality Days (Journées Nationales de la Qualité), 2 - 3 February.
The latter event and the National Programme of Upgrading were both opened by Prime Minister Macky Sall. At the launching of the Senegal National Quality Day Programme, the Prime Minister said the government's efforts to modernize the country could not hope to succeed with out increased industrialization which puts at the center of the process the promotion of quality. He urged firms to engage "resolutely in the battle for quality Senegalese products and services".
Secretary-General of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Alan Bryden and AFAQ (Association Française d'Assurance Qualité) Director, Foucald de Lauzon, were among the foreign guests at the launching (view or download Programme - in French). More than 300 participated over the two day event. UEMOA (Union Économique et Monétaire Ouest Africaine) Director of Industry, Mines and Handicrafts, Abdou Seyni and Mansour Cama of Senegal's National Confederation of Employers were among the speakers at the National Quality Day launching. Speaking to the local media, which covered the event extensively, UNIDO Project Manager, Lamine Dhaoui said that the National Quality Day was one when a special effort would be made to sensitize companies on the importance of the promotion of quality "Heads of Senegalese companies need to make the promotion of quality a priority action within the company" he said. National Quality Day is just one of many steps being taken within the € 12 million EU-UNIDO-UEMOA Trade Capacity Building Programme to make the region's products competitive on international markets. ISO and UNIDO have been discussing the possibility of ISO participating in the UEMOA programme in cooperation with UNIDO on Information Technology.
The launching of the National Programme of Upgrading on 1 February, 2005 was attended by over 200 managers of local enterprises. In addition to Prime Minister Sall, high level participants at the launching included: Senegal's Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises, Landing Savané; Minister for Women Entrepreneurship and Microfinance, Maïmouna Sourang Ndir; Tunisia's Secretary of State for Industry, Ben Mosbah (the programme is modelled on the UNIDO experience in Tunisia), and Ambassador of France Jean-Didier Roisin. The Upgrading programme, beginning with the establishment of a National Industrial Upgrading Office, has been on-going for about four months (see UNIDOScope 10 - 16 October, 2004). The programme has a budget of one million Euro, funded by France's development agency, the Agence Française de Développement (AfD). So far, around 25 enterprises have been accepted in the upgrading programme. Participating enterprises contribute 20% of the cost of the diagnostic and upgrading programme. The Senegal National Industrial Upgrading Office is the first to be established in West Africa and UEMOA is looking to mobilizing funds for the programme to be extended to other UEMOA countries.
The first of the three events, STEP (Sous-Traitance et de Partenariat) 2005 that took place on 25-29 January, was the subcontracting fair organized by the UNDO Subcontracting and Partnership Exchange (SPX) in Dakar and funded by the EU-ACP (Africa, Caribbean and Pacific) partnership programme Pro€invest. The objective of STEP 2005 was to encourage French and Moroccan companies to take advantage of outsourcing opportunities in Senegal in partnership with Senegalese National partners. Opened by the Minister of Industry and Handicrafts, Landing Savané and Mansour Cama of Senegal's National Confederation of Employers, (see UNIDOScope 17-23 October, 2004) the event drew some 180 exhibitors and 2,600 visitors. Fifty partnership agreements were signed out of a total of 309 one-to-one meetings. Eighty per cent of the contracts signed were among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The Senegal SMEs have been invited to participate in the December 2005 subcontracting fair in Lyon. A Step 2007 is being planned for Côte d’Ivoire.
Lamine Dhaoui, Tel +43-1-26026 / 5183, Email: M.Dhaoui@unido.org Alain Nickels, UNIDO Representative Senegal, Tel +221 823 1876, Email: A.Nickels@unido.org SPX Senegal E-mail: bnstp@arc.sn
Micro Hydro Power puts Mankulam online
Somehow, until October 2004, the people of Mankulam, a village of some 10,000 in a far corner of the hill district of Idukki in the state of Kerala, India, did without electric power. Now, with the help of the UNIDO Regional Centre for Small Hydro Power at Trivandrum, Kerala, the village now has access to 110 kW of power and Community Development Centres to boot.
In spite of the fact that Kerala's largest hydro electric power project is located in the Idukki district, Mankulam's road to electrification has been as rocky as the one to the village itself. The current initiative began during 2001. With the objective of generating power for the lighting needs of their community, the people of Mankulam began work on a 110 kW micro hydropower scheme. The project was held up for various reasons, including want of finance for turbines. When the UNIDO Centre (which was inaugurated in April 2003) heard of Mankulam's problem, it stepped in and brought two turbogenerators of 55 kW each from China through UNIDO’s International Centre for Small Hydro Power – the ICSHP The generators are very low maintenance and have an expected life of 20 - 25 years.
The Mankulam community raised funds and created a 4 km stretch of 11 kV line and the UNIDO Centre completed the distribution network. So far, in the first phase, about 500 families and 50 other establishments are connected. Houses are being wired gradually and it is expected that the number of connections will rise to around 1,000 meaning 50% of the village will have power. Phase one includes a telephone exchange. (Night lighting services are limited to three CFL bulbs of 15 watts each per family - the CFL bulbs are another energy saving measure, as one 15 watt CFL bulb give light equivalent to a normal 50 watt bulb).
The total cost of this project is about Rs 6.7 million and the power generation cost works out to Rs 1.63 per unit without the transmission and distribution network. Villagers pay Kerala's going rate of Rs 4.00 per unit. In addition, the UNIDO project has provided 10 computers, VSAT internet link and computer manuals to help create a computer education centre as part of the Community Development Centre. UNIDO supported the establishment of five Community Development Centres in the village. The Trivandrum Hydro Power Centre will also be involved in the creation of micro industrial units in the village in the second phase of the project, followed by further expansion of the electrical system. Additional proposals have been made to install a biomass gasifier in the village to use agricultural wastes to produce additional electricity.
The Government of Kerala has agreed to finance 50% of the cost of installing an additional 1MW small hydro capacity and connect to a rural grid. This project is expected to commence in the next 12 months and on completion will mean Mankulam will have enough power for the whole village and some to spare.
What is small hydro power? There is no international consensus on the definition of small hydropower. "Small hydro power" encompasses pico-, micro-, mini- and small-, hydro power. A rough guide to the dividing lines between these categories at microhydropower.net/size.php says a pico-hydro plant does not exceed 5 kilowatts in output, a micro plant has an output up to 100kW, a mini plant up to 1,000kW (1MW), and a small hydro plant anything from one to 30 megawatts, although 10 MW total capacity is becoming more generally accepted as the upper limit (1 kW of electric power can light up to 50 rural households. 30 MW is about the maximum size for most stand alone hydro systems not connected to the grid, and suitable for "run-off-the-river" installations). Alex Varghese, Tel +43-1-26026 / 3581, Email: A.Varghese@unido.orgcoming events
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