DAR ES SALAAM: ENERGY Stakeholders have emphasized for collaborative efforts between the public and private sectors in strengthening energy infrastructure and community mobilization towards expediting the transition to clean cooking in the country and Africa at large.
They charted the course for accelerating the ongoing the transition to clean cooking during the two day 9th Africa Energy Market Place meeting which was held in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday and Thursday this week.
The two day meeting which was co-organized by the government through the Ministry of Energy and the African Development Bank (AfDB) intended to boost the country’s efforts to clean cooking and electricity supply to all people.
Presenting the key recommendations reached during the meeting on Thursday, NIRAS Tanzania’s Consultant Ms Catherinerose Barretto said participants has underlined the need for development of inclusive energy infrastructure including power transmission lines to ensure both rural and urban residents have access to electricity.
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Participants during the meeting also urged public and private sectors to install natural gas filling stations in rural areas in bid of enabling citizens refill their gas cylinders as they adopt clean cooking.
Furthermore, Ms Barretto said participants also called for harmonisation of energy policies and strategies to create a favourable atmosphere which favours clean cooking affordability, reliability and availability and sustainability.
Also, she said participants suggested for effective creation of awareness on clean cooking practices to all people in order to enhance citizens’ mind-set change in favour of modern cooking technologies.
Moreover, participants suggested for more financing in clean cooking innovation in efforts of unlocking required technologies to boost access to eco-friendly energy including renewable energy.
In fostering universal electricity access in Africa, she said participants stressed for cross border electricity connectivity among countries so as to complement one another in power supply.
This year, Tanzania hosted the 9th Africa Energy Market Place meeting ahead of the Africa Heads of State Energy Compact Summit which also is scheduled to be held in Dar es Salaam in January 2025 with the objective of raising about 190 billion US dollar (over 517tri/-) to provide electricity to 300 million people in the continent by 2030.
The upcoming summit will be co-organized by the World Bank, AfDB and the African Union Commission bringing together world leaders, industry experts and civil society organizations to boost reliable energy access, advanced clean energy technologies and sustainable policies in Africa.
AfDB’s Director of Energy Financial Solutions, Policy and Regulations, Mr Wale Shonibare said the upcoming summit will result in to formulation of the Energy Compact, a binding document for African countries to forge partnerships and collaboration with the private sector in adopting clean cooking and strengthen electricity supply.
The country has been picked to host the two continental energy events in the wake of the launch of its National Clean Cooking Energy Strategy which was launched in May this year by President Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan with the target of realizing 80 per cent of clean cooking use by 2034 from the current 10 per cent.
AfDB’s Country Manager, Dr Partricia Laverley assured Tanzania of effective support to achieve its ambitious transition to clean cooking targets.
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“We are very proud to be working with your government to implement this transformative project aiming at increasing access to clean energy,” Dr Laverley said.
For his part, Commissioner of Energy for the Ministry of Energy, Engineer Innocent Luoga thanked all participants of the 9th Africa Energy Market Place meeting saying their presence made the event a reality in which the constructive recommendations were made.
The meeting brought together key actors in the energy sector from the private and public sectors, international financial institutions, academic and Civil Society Organizations to point the path for acceleration the clean cooking and electricity access in Tanzania.
It was themed “Delivering the Clean Cooking Initiatives and National Energy Access Goals”.