APA-Bamako (Mali) The African Development Fund has recently approved funding to help implement over $300 million energy project for Mali and Mauritania, which is part of the Desert Power Initiative.
In sub-Saharan Africa, especially in rural areas, electricity remains a luxury. In a report published in June 2023, the World Bank and four other organizations stated that “567 million people live without electricity” in this part of the continent.
Mali and Mauritania are among those countries where universal access to electricity is not yet guaranteed. The African Development Fund, through a $302.9 million financing package, intends to help them improve the situation, with the implementation of the 225 kV Electricity Interconnection Project and the development of solar power plants.
“The support from the concessional window of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group comprises $269.6 million for Mauritania and $33.3 million for Mali. The remainder of the project’s financing, costing around 888 million dollars, will be provided by other partners and climate funds,” said a press release received by APA.
According to the source, the project represents a strategic investment operation aimed at boosting solar power generation and providing these two Sahelian countries with high-quality, low-carbon electricity at an affordable price.
The project aims to “establish a 1,373-kilometer high-voltage electricity interconnection with a transit capacity of 600 megawatts (MW) between the two countries; build a 50 MW solar power plant in Kiffa, Mauritania, connected to the interconnection; and connect 100,000 new households (80,000 in Mauritania and 20,000 in Mali) to the electricity grid in the localities crossed.”
Presented as a priority operation of the Desert to Power Initiative, the document detailed, this project is included in the regional roadmap approved in 2021 by the program’s beneficiary countries. It is the first section of the trans-Sahelian backbone linking Mauritania to Chad, via Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
“The approval of this project shows that the Desert to Power Initiative is gradually taking shape through structuring projects that will enable the development of renewable energy production resources in both countries,” said Daniel Schroth, Director of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency at the African Development Bank (AfDB).
For Malinne Blomberg, Head of the Bank’s Mauritania Country Office and Deputy Managing Director for the North Africa region, “preparing this project was a challenge that the authorities in Mali and Mauritania and the Bank have met. Its approval consolidates the Bank’s support for the electricity sector in Mauritania. This inclusive and sustainable project is a concrete expression of our policy of supporting the development of green infrastructure in Africa. It will have an impact on the promotion of the private sector, the promotion of trade and the creation of employment opportunities.”
According to Adalbert Nshimyumuremyi, head of the AfDB country office in Mali, “by approving this project, the African Development Bank Group is once again demonstrating its commitment to working alongside African countries to support them in their development projects.”
Continuing, he assured us that “the permanent availability of quality electricity at an affordable cost will strengthen the resilience of populations in the beneficiary localities. In Mali, the project will be carried out in the Kayes region, benefiting 500,000 inhabitants in the 50 localities to be connected to the network.”
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