Africa-Press – Angola. Rehabilitation of obsolete energy transmission and distribution networks in Benguela province could start later this year, as soon as there is a green light for funding from the World Bank.
Despite the increase in power generation capacity since the province became connected to the North Interconnected System in 2019, the poor state of the networks or their non-existence, in some cases, have hampered the effective distribution of electricity to consumers, leaving many neighborhoods without power.
Concerned about the situation, the chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Electricity Distribution Company (ENDE), Hélder Adão, said that it was necessary to replace the obsolete network to increase the electrification rate, although he did not advance the project’s values, since which depends on funding.
According to the official, after the closure of the VI Extended Governing Council of the ENDE, the project for the rehabilitation of the old networks, which are obsolete, will cover some peripheral districts of the city of Benguela, to improve the supply to users.
In this regard, Hélder Adão hopes that the projects defined by the institution for the province of Benguela will start later this year with funding from the World Bank, whether for electrification or rehabilitation of obsolete networks.
Furthermore, he added that the company is planning financing for the expansion of the main energy network in some municipalities, with priority given to Cubal, Ganda and Balombo.
“Because they are municipalities that depend on thermal power plants and there have been many interruptions in supply due to the wear and tear they are subjected to”, he noted.
In his view, if implemented, these projects will allow considerable regularity in the supply of electricity.
According to available data, currently, the electrification rate in Benguela province is 34 percent, with the number of energy consumers being around 142 thousand, in seven of the ten municipalities.
In addition to Benguela, the project to improve and access the electricity sector aims to finance investments in electrification in the provinces of Luanda, Huíla and Huambo, making 196,500 new electrical connections that will benefit around one million people and 93,857 public lighting poles.
The total cost of the project is US$417 million, financed with a US$250 million loan from the World Bank and a US$167 million credit from the French Development Agency.
The project will focus on expanding access to electricity and improving revenue collection, improving the electricity service, improving the capacity of the public electricity producer (PRODEL, Empresa Pública de Produção de Electricidade) and strengthening the sustainable management of power plants generation.
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