The East African Community (EAC) Secretariat is on the prowl for a capital infusion of $2.7 million to support the development of the regional energy master plan.
The funds will be used to create the Renewable Energy, Energy Conservation, and Energy Efficiency Master Plans anticipated to cost around $1.2 million with the remaining amount going toward fossil fuels. At the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) held in Kigali, Rwanda, the EAC chairman Dr. Diodorus Kamala said, “These estimates have been finalized and will be implemented once funds have been sourced.”
He said that since the master plan was developed in 2005 before Rwanda and Burundi had joined the EAC, it is being updated to include the two states and to take account of other developments in the power sector. Kamala also assured that the cross-border electrification program was still underway. "For example Lunga Lunga in Kenya is supplied from Tanzania under this arrangement and had operated successfully since 2004 while Namanga-Tanzania was linked to the Kenyan system in April 2009," he explained.
However, in December EAC secretary general ambassador Juma Mwapachu said that the pace at which the Zambia-Tanzania-Kenya electricity interconnector was being implemented was sluggish. Meanwhile, Ethiopia and Kenya decided not to wait on loans from the African Development Bank or the Nile Basin Initiative to become active. The two countries decided to dip into their own pockets to cover the planned $3.5 million power interconnection project.
Around the same time as the EALA, the 3rd EAC Investment Conference also took place from April 27 to 30 in Kampala, Uganda. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni opened the conference with a call to development partners to help the EAC deal with strategic problems hindering the development of the region naming inadequate energy supply as a priority.
Closing the ceremony was Tanzania’s President, Jakaya Kikwete, whom stressed the importance of the conference marking the establishment of the EAC Common Market Protocol allowing for a competitive investor climate. Kenya became the fourth EAC partner state to ratify the protocol after Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania. The Common Market Protocol will oversee the principal of non-discrimination in each partner states’ treatment of nationals of other partner states. It will attempt to accelerate economic growth and development through the attainment of free movement of goods, persons and labor, the rights of establishment, and residence, among other key provisions.
