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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