M a r k e t N e w s
Tanzania: REA Scheme to Give Power to 6000 Villages
Posted on : Saturday , 16th April 2016
THE government has said nearly 6,000 villages will be connected with electricity through the Rural Energy Agency (REA) phase three. Deputy Minister for Energy and Minerals, Dr Medard Kalemani, told a parliamentary committee on Energy and Minerals when giving details of the implementation of REA budget in 2016/2017 fiscal year.
The deputy minister said the implementation of the third phase would kick off after the end of phase II at the end of June this year and that about 6,000 are expected to be connected with electricity.
"We expect to implement the third phase in three years and we expect to spend 1.5trillion/- in the project," he noted.
According to Dr Kalemani the government is struggling to distribute electricity in rural and urnab areas in its bid to make sure that 85 percent the country's population has access to electricity.
"Electricity distribution in rural areas has now reached 89 percent and all villages that were not covered during the second phase would be incorporated in the third phase which is final," he added.
The deputy minister asked stakeholders to provide information of the villages that are yet to be connected to Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) offices. According to him, some engineers who did not perform well during the second phase would not be considered in the next phase instead the government would contract others.
Earlier, on REA Director General Dr Lutengano Mwakahesya said the second phase of REA targeted to supply electricity in the headquarters of 13 districts. The districts are Buhigwe, Busega, Chemba, Itilima, Kakonko, Kalambo, Kyerwa, Mkalama, Mlele, Momba, Nanyumbu, Nyasa and Uvinza.
According to him, only MombaDistrict was yet to be connected to the national grid.
Source : allafrica.com
