Zimbabwe and Rwanda have made significant progress in their rural electrification programs and arenearing completion of modalities for deploying $800 million projects.
Last year, President Mnangagwa announced that Rwanda had agreed to help Zimbabwe finance a ruralelectrification program that would improve the lives of rural people.
This is in line with the government’s policy of leaving no one behind, and is a major step towardsbecoming an upper middle-income country by 2030.
The multi-million program includes nine different projects, from power generation, transmission anddistribution to after-sales service, he said in an interview last Friday, Dr. Executive Chairman of ZESAHoldings, Sydney. Gata said:
“The program is on the right track. Type “The scale of this project is unlike anything ZESA has donebefore. By the end of this month, we hope to finalize how this large-scale project will be implemented.”
Dr. Gata, however, does not want to elaborate on the program.
Analysts say the majority of Zimbabweans live on electricity in rural areas, with some living far from thegrid. $800 million program helps country close energy access gap
“Access to energy is a prerequisite for any development you can think of, and lighting rural areas willinevitably accelerate development and economic activity in those areas,” said a local private university.Enock Rusere, a development research lecturer at , said in an interview.
“This intervention will also put Zimbabwe on track to achieve Goal 7 of his SDGs (Sustainable DevelopmentGoals). Sustainable Development Goal number 7 aims to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainableand modern energy for all sections of the population by 2030 is.
Access to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy is essential to achieving many of the SDGs, frompoverty alleviation to health, education, water, industrial progress andclimate change mitigation.
According to the 2022 Energy Progress Report released by the United Nations, Africa is now the leastelectrified continent in the world, with around 600 million people without electricity. Achieving electrificationfor all in sub-Saharan Africa will require an annual investment of at least US$31 billion by 2030.
Carlos Tadia, an analyst based in Harare, said the rural electrification program would bring about aninclusive economy in which people from remote areas also participate in the economy. “There are a lot ofeconomic opportunities out there, untapped economic potential that can be addressed by electrifying theseareas,” Tadia said in an interview.
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“If implemented, it will be a game changer for rural people and the economy as a whole.”
The country has already started investing in off-grid generation to ease pressure on its already congestednational grid. Given the huge demand, largely due to rapid urbanization and increased activity in sectors suchas mining, his off-grid solution will make electricity accessible to more citizens. Off-grid His solutionwill make electricity accessible tomore people, especially those far from the national grid. To date, 10,009rural facilities nationwide have been electrified with grid and solar technology, and a total of 430 solar mini-grid systems have been installed in remote rural schools and clinics across the country. This year, the RuralElectrification Fund will contribute $18.3 billion and another $1 billion from Fiscus to advance ruralcommunity electrification and off-grid solutions.
The intervention will also support Education 5.0 in rural schools, providing beneficiaries with opportunitiesfor innovation and industrialization as a catalyst for the realization of Vision 2030.
