The $5 billion will be going to Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, and Tanzania – countries which have partnered with United States President Barack Obama’s Power Africa Initative.
The World Bank Group has committed US$5 billion towards supporting energy projects in six African countries.
The $5 billion will be going to Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, and Tanzania – countries which have partnered with United States President Barack Obama’s Power Africa Initative.
World Bank president, Dr. Jim Yong Kim, has noted that the Power Africa Initiative will play an important role in achieving the goal of providing electricity for Africa.
The World Bank will partner with Power Africa by committing funds for direct financing, investment guarantees, and advisory services for project preparation in the six African countries.
Through the help of the U.S. Government and the World Bank Group, one-quarter of Power Africa’s goal of generating 10,000 megawatts of new power in Sub Saharan Africa could be achieved.
According to Dr. Kim, the new financial commitment was urgently needed to generate more electricity for the 600 million in Africa whom have no access to electricity despite the country’s huge hydropower, geothermal, wind, and solar potential, as well as oil and natural gas reserves.
In particular, Africa has a vast potential for hydropower, but uses only 8 percent of it, compared to Western Europe which uses 85 percent of its available hydropower potential which has contributed to its economic development and industrialization.
Africa’s current power crisis forces communities to spend large amounts of money in unhealthy forms of energy, such as diesel generators or wood for indoor cooking fires.
“Like Europe and the rest of the world, Africa deserves the same opportunity to exploit this green source of power to improve the lives and economic prospects of its people,” said World Bank’s vice president for Africa, Makhtar Diop.
“Beyond building up power generators, they must be connected to the market, which calls for regional cooperation to build the transmission network. We are working with African leaders and their development partners to create power pools in Africa’s East, West, Central and Southern sub-regions,” said Mr. Diop.
“Those countries with abundant geothermal, gas, hydro, solar, and wind resources can feed their excess power supply into a common pool, while neighboring states with less energy and generation capacity can benefit from this integrated approach to delivering electricity to their people,” Mr. Diop explained. – EcoSeed Staff
