US president Barack Obama at the weekend unveiled a $7 billion new US-led plan to increase access to electricity in Africa.
Obama swore to assist Africa in bringing “light where there is currently darkness.”
Obama made these remarks after visiting Robben Island, where Mandela, who is currently in hospital, spent almost two decades of his 27-year stay in jail.
Electricity generation in Africa is acutely inadequate and unreliable. According to Eco Power Africa, Nigeria for example, a vast nation of 150 million people, has a generating capacity of 4,000 MW.
“By comparison, New York City alone has a generating capacity of 13,000 MW. The shortfall encompasses both the generation and transmission infrastructure,” Eco Power Africa said in its website.
“This shortfall is persistent and structural, and the amount of capital required to ameliorate it is tremendous. Therefore, this problem will not be resolved anytime soon with the usual approach to generation.”
The lack of power in Africa is said to be the biggest obstruction to economic development in sub-Saharan Africa.
Tackling this difficulty will lead to large-scale wealth creation and release the region’s vast capacity.
Obama’s electricity plan, known as “Power Africa,” represents the kind of cross-Africa projects Obama is bent on achieving.
The US will invest $7 billion in the power plan, which will pay more attention to advancing more access to power in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria and Tanzania.
It is understood that big firms including General Electric and Symbion Power will put in an additional
$9 billion
Source: VENTURES AFRICA
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