The Greek open restaurants around the world. The Chinese start businesses. Norwegians build hydropower plants. It all seem to be in their genes. So nobody gets too surprised when going into the jungle of Lautem or the hills of Gariuai, eastern East Timor they find a Norwegian measuring the water level of a river, wanting to produce electricity...
Alf Adeler is the resident team leader for HydroTimor, the national coordinating unit for hydroelectric development. East Timor (Timor-Leste) lacks electricity. Present production is too small to cover even today's demand, not to mention the much needed establishing of businesses and industry to strengthen the economy and reduce the high and rising unemployment. Furthermore, the present production is based on diesel plants, which are expensive to operate and maintain, and they pollute.
The Iralalaro Hydroelectric Power Project in Lautem and the Gariuai Mini Hydroelectric Power Project in Baucau aim to provide a cheaper and more environmentally sound alternative to burning diesel. The larger one, Iralalaru (189 GWh annually) is expected to go into production during 2012, while Gariuai (1.5 GWh annually) is scheduled to be completed mid 2008.
For more details, see the web site hydrotimor.com.
