By Sallieu S. Kanu
New York, September 24, 2025: Sierra Leone has achieved a landmark milestone with the official endorsement of its USD 2.2 billion Mission 300 Energy Compact, the largest infrastructure development plan in the nation’s history, according to a statement from the State House, which was released on Wednesday.
The endorsement was granted by the World Bank Group (WBG), the African Development Bank (AfDB), and other key partners during a high-profile ceremony at the Bloomberg Global Forum 2025.
The Mission 300 Energy Compact outlines a bold strategy to increase electricity access from the current 36% to 78%, with a strong emphasis on renewable energy, modernizing transmission and distribution systems, promoting clean cooking solutions, and creating a robust environment for private sector investment and governance reforms.
President Julius Maada Bio, who also serves as Sierra Leone’s Minister of Energy, formally received the Compact Endorsement Letter and hailed the initiative as transformative. “Our Mission 300 Energy Compact is the most ambitious and comprehensive energy infrastructure initiative ever developed for Sierra Leone,” he stated. “Powered by evidence-based solutions and data, this single plan holds the greatest promise for unlocking sustainable and inclusive development for our people.”
The compact was developed in record time by the Inter-Ministerial Coordination Group, co-chaired by Minister of Finance Sheku A.F. Bangura and Dr. Kandeh K. Yumkella, Chair of both the Presidential Initiative on Climate Change, Renewable Energy and Food Security, and the Energy Governance Coordination Group (EGCG).
Sierra Leone joins seventeen other countries whose energy compacts were also endorsed under the broader Mission 300 initiative—a joint effort by the World Bank and AfDB to provide electricity access to 300 million people across Africa by 2030. The program aims to catalyze economic growth and stability through clean, affordable, and reliable energy solutions.