The proverb that “when a child washes his hands clean he will eat with kings” holds true for Brima Baluwa Koroma, the Executive Chairman of the Petroleum Regulatory Agency (PRA), in whom President Julius Maada Bio is well pleased.
Unlike some presidential appointees, who caught the president’s eyes through sycophancy or backbiting, Baluwa Koroma has won President Bio’s heart through his hard work and his zest to promote the president’s agenda. Under his stewardship of PRA, petroleum storage capacity in the country has been increased from over 180,000 metric tons to currently over 235,000 metric tons.
To improve on access to energy and reduce energy poverty in Sierra Leone, the Agency has increased the number of Gas Stations across the country from over 200 to over 400. And that’s not all. During a visit of an economic delegation from Morocco, led by the Moroccan Embassy in Freetown, Baluwa Koroma expressed desire for the establishment of Government strategic stock, an alternative petroleum depot and regional tank farms, adding that prior to this time, the industry was constrained with one jetty and that due to the proactive move by the Agency and other relevant stakeholders within the sector, “we have three jetties now”.
The transformation of PRA, under Baluwa Koroma’s watch, is something that is not lost on President Bio who, during the presentation of the PRA Annual Report at State House this year, commended the team for the review of the pricing formula and the additional storage. He also noted that the increase in revenue generation in the sector was a welcome development, adding that he was impressed with PRA’s proactive efforts in ensuring that they were able to succeed on many reforms.
In the last six years, Baluwa Koroma and his team have positioned PRA as one of the most compelling sectors for investments and engine for service delivery in Sierra Leone. This was the message he took to a two-day conference held in Dakar, Senegal, on “Promoting Liquefied Petroleum Gas as Clean Energy in West Africa”. At this conference, Baluwa Koroma underscored the Sierra Leone Government’s commitment to increase energy access with reliable and cleaner energy sources. He also highlighted the gains which President Julius Maada Bio achieved this year in the energy sector with the launch of a US$412 million energy project for a 126.7-MW electricity with West Africa LNG and combined cycle power plant project in Freetown.
With the current reforms at PRA, the Agency has been able to double its revenue by almost 128%. It is also good to note that the importation of petroleum products and related commodities has also reportedly grown by 52%.
Apart from those feats, consumers and dealers are now getting more surplus and margins than before. These are some of the achievements which detractors of PRA do not want the public to know!