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African Development
Fund approves $2mn
grant for ECOWAS states
WEST AFRICA THE African Development Fund (ADF) has important performance indicators and prin-
approved a technical assistance grant of $2mn ciples for electricity regulation from the ADF’s
to fund research that will contribute to elec- flagship study – the Electricity Regulatory Index
tricity reforms in the Economic Community of for Africa. The second part covers research to
West African States (ECOWAS), a 15-member update a comparison of electricity rates and their
regional bloc. underlying factors throughout the ECOWAS
The grant from the ADF, the concessional electricity value chain. In the third step, the
window of the African Development Bank project leads will create a centralized database
Group, will go to the ECOWAS Regional Elec- management system for gathering and shar-
tricity Regulatory Authority. The ultimate aim ing pertinent energy information from mem-
is to stimulate cross-border electricity trade ber nations. The fourth component will assess
and improve energy access in the 15 countries and identify project bottlenecks and risks in
covering about 6.1mn square kilometres in the ECOWAS member countries and recommend
region – Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte an approach to address barriers to investment in
d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bis- the power sector. The final component focuses
sau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra on programme management and capacity build-
Leone, and Togo. ing, which will be co-financed with the Regional
“Ultimately, this project will facilitate regional Electricity Regulatory Authority.
electricity trade and help improve access to elec- In West and Central Africa, only three coun-
tricity,” said Solomon Sarpong, project team tries are on track to give every one of their people
leader at the ADF. “It will address major causes access to electricity by 2030. At this slow pace,
of fragility, such as infrastructure bottlenecks, 263mn people in the region will be left without
youth unemployment, environmental chal- electricity in 10 years, according to the World
lenges, gender inequalities, and regional devel- Bank. West Africa has one of the lowest rates of
opment imbalances.” electricity access in the world; only about 42% of
According to the AfDB, the project intended the total population, and 8% of rural residents,
to boost electricity is laid out in five parts: have access to electricity.
In the first part, the authorities will choose
P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 26 30•June•2022
