Zambia, Mozambique receive $780m for power projects

Zambia, Mozambique receive $780m for power projects
By Joan Chirwa
Monday June 09, 2008 [04:00]

ZAMBIA and Mozambique have been given US $780 million by the Japanese government for power projects, as the Southern African region battles to resolve the electricity deficit. The funds, which will be provided through the World Bank for construction of electricity transmission lines in the two Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) member states over the next five years, will be in form of soft loans.

The support is expected to assist Zambia and Mozambique deal with power deficits that have arisen from inadequate investments in the sector. Zambia’s power utility Zesco Limited has been battling with resource mobilisation for its electricity projects, and later sought government’s assistance in raising the funds.

According to the Asahi Shimbun – Japan’s largest newspaper – which quoted Japanese government sources, the funds will be divided in line with the electrification projects submitted by the two countries to the World Bank.

The money is part of the US$4 billion in grants and soft loans for Africa that Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fakuda announced at the opening of the fourth Tokyo International Conference on Africa’s Development (TICAD), held last week in Yokohama, Japan.

The paper noted that unlike past practice, when Japan handled the money, it granted or loaned directly; this time it has chosen to channel the funds via the World Bank. It further stated that countries such as Zimbabwe, which have failed to honour past undertakings to the World Bank and the IMF, will not be eligible.

The new scheme is based on an agreement signed between Fakuda and the President of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick.