The World Bank Group (WBG) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group have committed to providing at least 300 million people in Africa with electricity access by 2030.

While the World Bank would work to connect 250 million people to electricity through distributed renewable energy systems or the distribution grid, the AfDB would provide additional 50 million people with electricity in the next six years.

The move by the World and AFDB is to ensure that about 600 million Africans who lack access to electricity are connected, while solving the significant barriers to health care, education, productivity, digital inclusivity, and job creation.

The two development financial institutions made this commitment during a fireside chat at the ongoing World Bank Group/International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings in Washington, USA, on Wednesday, April 17, monitored by the Ghana News Agency.

To achieve the goal, the World Bank, AfDB, and the African Union (AU) would be hosting an African Energy Summit to develop a
n African Energy Compact.

The event would bring together governments, private sector players, multilateral development banks, and regulators, who would design a roadmap, including policy and financing needed for the actions to be implemented.

‘Electricity access is the bedrock of all development. It is a critical ingredient for economic growth and essential for job creation at scale.? Our aspiration will only be realised with partnership and ambition’ said,?Mr Ajay Banga, WBG President.

He described as ‘unacceptable’ that as of now some 600 million people in Africa did not have access to electricity, saying electricity was the basis by which people could get access to health, education, innovate and be productive.

‘If you don’t have access to education, health, and not productive, [and] you don’t have jobs, there’s no solution to poverty, growth and development. So, let’s think about it [electricity] as an important human right, which allows us to build jobs and capabilities in Africa,’ he said.

Mr Ajay
Banga stated that the World Bank would be investing up to US$35bn through its concessional arm for low-income countries – the International Development Association (IDA), which would be replenished by the end of 2024.

He called on African governments to ‘get ahead of the game’, and attract private investment, implement reforms in their utilities to ensure a financially sound and efficient with tariff mechanisms that protected the poor.?

‘Economies thrive on energy… no economy can grow in the dark, no economy can industrialise in the dark, and no economy can be competitive in the dark,’ said, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, AfDB Group President.

‘We at the African Development Bank will make sure that we’re able to provide 50 million [people] access [to electricity] by 2030,’ Dr Adesina pledged.

‘We’ve got work to do; we’ll need governments, private sector, and make sure that multilateral financial institutions can come in [with] project development facilities, and de-risking facilities are scaled,’ the AfDB President
said.

Some other efforts that the AfDB was implementing in sending electricity to people across the continent, Dr Adesina said included a US$20bn ‘Desert to Power’ initiative to generate 10,000 megawatts of power in 11 African countries.

‘That will allow us to have 250 million people having access [to electricity] in addition to the 50 million, that’s 300 million. You add that to what Ajay was talking about, we’ll have 500 million… and we’ll be able to put this behind us,’ he said.

Source: Ghana News Agency