Malawi: President Dr Lazarus Chakwera on Monday witnessed the signing of a US$300 million compact with the World Bank, a funding which will support Malawi to achieve universal energy and electricity access by 2030.
The signing ceremony was organized at the Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. During the event, Chakwera said electricity is the key to unlocking economic and wealth creation opportunities as it helps in agricultural production, mining sector and tourism, among others.
He said for the past years Malawi has faced a lot of setbacks in the energy sector as the country was hit by Cyclones Ana and Gombe, which severely damaged Kapichira Power Plant and plunged one third of the few Malawian homes that were connected to electricity back in the dark.
The President claimed that the World bank has supported Malawi significantly when it comes to provision of electricity. When the nation had problems, World Bank was the first to help and assist Malawi to see the plant restored, which the country accomplished in less than one year.
The President stated that it is the wish of his administration to see 75 percent of Malawians being connected to electricity by 2030. “In the last four years, we have managed to connect 25 percent of Malawians with electricity from 12 percent as we know that with electricity our country will be developed,” he said.
Anna Bjerde, who serves as the Managing Director for World Bank, has appreciated the government of Malawi for its efforts in increasing electricity access from 12 to 25 percent. The increase has been recorded specifically in the last four years.
She said that they have entered into a collaboration with the Malawi government with aim of providing the peeople of Malawi access to electricity. They have claimed that many African countries they lack electricity and are in a relatively primitive state without access to electricity..
The grant is being made under under the Accelerating Sustainable & Clean Energy Access Transformation (ASCENT) initiative.