REA partners assure transparent funds’ management
MINISTRY of Energy has assured the sector development partners of enhanced, proper and transparent management of funds through various accountable ways.
The move is aimed at ensuring the plans are not only executed and implemented, but ensuring equitable distribution of projects to benefit the disadvantaged, especially women, children and disabled men and women in the society.
Opening the bi-annual Energy Development Partners Group (EDPG) and the Rural Energy Agency (REA) meeting, Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Eng Felchesmi Mramba said through the meeting, they will share and discuss implementation of rural energy schemes and come up with deliberations to enhance cooperation.
He commended the development partners for their continued support in the initiatives, especially in the promotion and facilitation of modern energy services in rural areas through REA.
Elaborating, Eng Mramba noted that the development partners’ support has significantly contributed to speedy rural transformation and development, which resulted in improved rural livelihoods.
“Services, like provision of clean water through the use of solar powered water pumps for irrigation, preservation of vaccines in rural dispensaries and health centres, the mushrooming of processing industries in rural and semi-rural areas have been improved drastically,” he pointed out.
Adding: “Other areas which are witnessing development can also be counted in your support in the form of provision of electricity to educational facilities, which enables students to study at night and use electricity aided laboratories which have been substantially improved”.
This in turn has significantly reduced rural-urban migration of youths, thereby controlling vices in townships and urban areas and seeing rural transformation through the provision of modern energy services pioneered.
Earlier, REA Director General Eng Hassan Saidy said the role, commitment and support from the energy development partner group has contributed to widening the scope of various projects, and introducing new projects and programmes and as a result increased availability of modern energy services in rural areas.
He said government and development partners have set a new milestone by having all 12,345 villages in Tanzania mainland connected with electricity supply after completion of the ongoing Rural Electrification Project Phase 3 Round 2 (R3R2 project).
With a project estimated to cost 6.5tri/- he said, REA is now planning to implement the Hamlet Electrification Project to reach nearly 37,600 sub-villages and ensure 100 per cent of rural communities have access to electricity.
This programme will be implemented in phases according to availability of funds and currently with support from the Ministry of Energy; REA is looking for more sources of funds so as to fast truck implementation of the programme within five years.
Despite a huge success in extending electricity services to rural areas, and despite the fact that, availability of electricity supply has improved social services and stimulated economic activities in rural areas, yet a very small portion of the community use electricity for cooking.
Eng Saidy further said having rural areas as a settlement for the majority of Tanzanians, inadequate access to modern cooking energy services in rural areas may result in massive deforestation, impact on climate change and severe health consequences as they depend on firewood and charcoal as primary source of energy for cooking.
To curb usage of unclean source of energy for cooking, Rural Energy Agency is planning to provide Technical and Financial support to Private Sectors in order to scale up production and distribution of Improved Cooking Solutions.
