RYAN CHIGOCHE
The Ministry of Energy and Power Development says the lack of funding has stalled progress in the rural electrification programme as most households in the rural parts of Zimbabwe do not have electricity.
The is despite the fact that the Rural Electrification Fund gets money from Treasury and a 6% electrification levy which is paid on every ZESA electricity purchase.
Energy and Power Development minister Soda Zhemu told Business Times that the levy alone was enough to fund rural electrification and the imposition of sanctions and unfavourable investment laws have made it difficult for the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) to attract the much needed foreign funding in order to carry out its mandate.
“Sometimes when it was ascertained (Rural Electrification) I think in 2012 our coverage was 44% for all communities of which 13% was the coverage of rural areas. We still think rural areas are still behind. Although rural electrification is ongoing it is being affected by our funding mechanisms for rural electricity programmes,” Zhemu said.
He said: “The 6% electrification levy is not enough to carry out REAs mandate. Also, one thing we must take cognisant of is the fact that we are under sanctions and we are failing to attract new investments from outside the country because the way we are being profiled as a nation is that we are viewed as a country with high political risks just because of the imposition of the sanctions.”
Zhemu said the premium which is charged to any potential investor in Zimbabwe is also scaring Funding stalls rural electrification Women Affairs ministry launches metro mini factories Harare embarks on a new economic resilience plan off investors, stalling the rural electrification project in the process.
“…Even when we get those investments to come in they are also charged a premium for coming to invest in Zimbabwe and ultimately that also affects our levels of tariffs so these are some of the challenges that are affecting us to expedite rural electrification despite that we have a full policy that speaks to the implementation of giving access of electricity to rural areas and there is also an agency (REA) which was set up by the govt to make sure that the policy is being implemented but we are facing the challenges mentioned above,” he said.
Over two-thirds of Zimbabwe’s 16.2m people live in rural areas, and about 80% of those residents cannot access electricity. In 2002, Zimbabwe created the Rural Electrification Agency to rapidly electrify the countryside.
So far, the agency has connected thousands of schools and rural health centre. However, few power lines extend beyond institutional buildings, resulting in few village households being electrified.
Since its inception in 2002, the initial arrangements for the funding of REA activities and programmes were supposed to be undertaken under funding mechanisms which include levies, loans, grants, and fiscal allocations from the government.
The bulk of funds for its programmes is expected to come from the 6% levied to every electricity consumer.
