AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE fifth phase government has made significant strides in electrifying homes and villages in the last five years, targeting to cover the entire country by June next year.
Statistics unveiled by the Chief Government Spokesperson, Dr Hassan Abbasi, last week show that 9,412 out of 12,268 villages had been electrified, up from 2,018 villages recorded in the past five years.
With this achievement, Tanzania will join few African countries which have electrified both rural and urban areas. Globally, the number of people without access to electricity dropped to 840 million in 2017 from 1.2 billion in 2010.
This is one of the greatest success stories the country has achieved in the fight against energy poverty, thanks to investments made by the government in the energy sector.
For example, during the period under review, the government has spent 2.29tri/-, out of which 1.7tri/- is from domestic sources and 515bn/- from development partners.
The huge investments in the power generation and transmission alongside the transformation of the Tanesco, remarkable achievements have been registered in five years under President John Magufuli’s first term in office.
One of the notable achievements is changing from loss-making to a profit generating public utility, whose performance has started paying dividends to the government.
This investment has made Tanzania produce 300MW surplus power, giving Tanesco relief from buying expensive electricity as well as using diesel turbines.
Huge investments in flagship projects, including the 2,115MW Nyerere Hydropower Project, will assure the country of surplus power as well as making Tanzania the leading power producer and supplier in the East African region.
Access to power, which is a prerequisite for human development, makes possible investments, innovations and new industries that create jobs, promote inclusive growth and shared prosperity for the country and people.
Increased access to electricity improves education, entertainment, health, comfort, protection and productivity.
Significantly, power supply in Tanzania goes beyond household use for lighting homes, charging phones or powering household appliances such as radios and TV sets, but is intended to spur economic growth.
Access to power is central to issues such as security, climate change mitigation, food production and strengthening economies while protecting ecosystems.
To grow Tanzania’s economy requires productive use of power and better access to social services for all.
