EU Pledges Additional Support for Power Projects in East Africa
Posted on : Saturday , 4th June 2016
The current vigour the 5thgovernment is exhibiting is key to achieving Sustainable Development Goal number 7, access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all, the Head of delegation of the European Union to Tanzania and East Africa region has said.
Speaking yesterday when launching a new booklet titled 'Empowering Tanzania: Energy for Growth and Sustainable Development', Head of EU delegation Ambassador Roeland Van de Geer said reliable energy and electricity is key to poverty reduction in the country.
Ambassador Van de Geer said EU will continue to support Tanzania to achieve its ambitious goals in scaling up access to modern energy services in the country and most especially in rural areas.
"This booklet aims at providing an overview of EU support to the energy sector, both past, ongoing and future actions that will concretely contribute to meeting target 7 of the SDGs in Tanzania," he explained.
EU support ranges from improving rural energy access from mini-hydro projects in the Southern Parts of the country, to solar minigrids on Islands in Lake Victoria to the development of transmission and distribution infrastructure to bring sustainable and affordable energy services in rural areas, both on grid and off the main grid.
"The EU is also a partner to Tanzania in delivering core energy sector reforms towards increasing efficiency and financial viability in the sector that will see improved service delivery, transparency of actions and creating the conditions for greater private sector investment," he explained.
He added that within the existing framework of EU and Tanzania cooperation, the EU is scaling up its engagement further, with energy being selected as one of the three focal areas of EU cooperation for the next five-year period. The other two are Agriculture and Good Governance.
"The support in the next years will focus on access through rural electrification and core sector reforms, with a total allocation of 180 million Euros of grant support," he explained.
He noted that under the 11th European Development Fund (EDF), National Indicative Programme, Tanzania will be complemented by new important instruments for the financing of private sector-led electrification initiatives based on renewable and larger investments in generation and transmission.
The Director of Electricity from the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA), Eng Anastas Mbawala, explained that without reliable energy the nation cannot forge ahead with its ambitious plan to industrialize and become a middle-income country by 2025.
A representative from the Ministry of Finance and Development, Ms Grace Aloyce, said the EU support has come at the right time when the government is scaling up access to modern energy service in rural areas.
Project Engineer, Rural Energy Agency (REA)Mohamed Sauko said a pre-feasibility study has been completed for 11 EDF rural energy programmes and once the ongoing feasibility study is completed, work will begin to link the rural areas with modern energy services.
In addition, the Tanzania Electric Supply Company Ltd (TANESCO) representative, Baraka Kanyika, noted the booklet launched will give an insight on what Tanzanians should look forward to in the coming years.
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