AFRICA should look at power generation alternatives to curb power deficits in the region amid growing demand, an expert has said.
BY VICTORIA MTOMBA IN ABIDJAN, ivory coast
Speaking on the sidelines of the Programme for Infrastructure Development (Pida) Week meetings, Symerre Grey-Johnson, head of infrastructure strategic business at the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad), said Africa had a growing middle-class, which meant a high demand for power.
He said drought in Sadc would affect the region, especially on hydropower transmission.
“Within Pida, we have transmission projects: the ZTK (Zambia-Tanzania-Kenya) interconnection and is part of the 16 projects that were presented in Dakar [Senegal]. We need a proactive generational mix, not the traditional mix. The other sources such as renewable energy should be explored,” Johnson said.
He said the private sector needed to play a role in the generation of energy in the region.
Johnson said Africa governments had high demands on their budgets for agriculture, defence, health, education, maintenance and military, and to finance energy projects would be a tall order for them.
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Johnson said it would be difficult to compare developments in energy projects in the different regions on the continent as some spilled over from one region to the other.
He said $68 billion would be required to finance infrastructure projects in the region to 2020 and the total required by the region to 2040 is $340 billion.
Economic Community for Central African States secretary-general Clotilde Nzigama said energy was critical in Africa and among all the infrastructure projects under Pida, the sector consumed 60%, that is $40,3 billion from $68 billion required for Pida projects in the 20-year period.
“Energy is key in this whole issue in terms of industrialisation and is a major ingredient. We all know the issue of generators, it does not make us competitive in the global world,” she said.
Energy is one of the key enablers in any economy and many African countries are struggling to avail power to citizens.
This has resulted in many African countries ranking low on the ease of doing business index on the international market.
The Pida Week meetings, which end today, are being held jointly by the African Union Commission, Nepad and the African Development Bank as part of ensuring co-ordinated approaches in moving Pida to realisation.
Pida has 51 regional projects in energy, transport, ICT and trans-boundary water requiring financing with an investment portfolio of $68 billion up to the year 2020.
