Tanzania: 4,000 villages may get electricity soon

by Sylivester Domasa

THE Government will start implementing the third phase of rural electrification, connecting nearly 4,000 villages at the end of next month the National Assembly heard here yesterday.

Deputy Minister for Energy, Ms Subira Mugambo says the project which was officially launched in June last year had faced some technical hitches. However, all had been put in place ready for the grand exercise.
“There are a few projects that had been worked on. I can confirm that some of the projects in Geita and Mwanza have been completed and the areas receive electricity but most of the areas had not started,” the deputy minister said in the National Assembly.
She was responding to a supplementary question posed in the House by Momba legislator Mr David Silinde (Chadema). The lawmaker wanted to know when the projects implemented under Rural Energy Agency (REA) phase III will be completed given that it had not started seven months after being launched.
Mr Silinde said the parliament enacted a legislation reinforcing a special fund deducted in form of fuel levy to finance implementation of rural electrification across the country.
“Unfortunately, implementation of these projects is now worrisome,” he said. The Deputy Minister explained that the government had appointed 27 engineers who will be charged with supervising implementation of the project.
In addition, she said, last month the government held a technical meeting with constructors and have resolved that all the contractors who were awarded construction tender start work before February 28. She said the announced date is not for site surveying but “fixing electricity poles and connecting villages.” “We have received 170bn/- from the Treasury as money generated from the fuel levy,” she detailed.
Tanzania government adopted its strategic plan to connect all villages with electricity supply come 2021. The first phase of REA III will connect 3,559 villages and 4,314 other villages will be reached during the implementation of the second phase of REA III that starts in April 2019.
A statement from the energy ministry shows 27 villages in Momba district will be connected during the implementation of REA III. Energy Deputy Minister says STEG International has been contracted to build a 60 km long 33Kv distribution line and an addition of 108 km long 0.4Kv, fix 54 transformers and connect at least 1,773 new customers.
The project is expected to cost 6.67bn/- and the work will be completed by April 2019.