Ghana power sector to benefit from $5 billion World Bank fund

Samuel K. Obour Aug - 06 - 2014 , 10:32

Ghana is among six countries that will benefit from a $5 billion World Bank fund to boost nationwide electricity generation.

The other beneficiaries are Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria and Tanzania.

The World Bank Group announced Tuesday that it had committed $5 billion in new technical and financial support for energy projects for the countries, which have partnered with US President Barack Obama's Power Africa initiative.

Making the announcement on the second day of the 1st US-Africa Summit, World Bank Group President, Dr. Jim Yong Kim, said the new financial commitment was urgently needed to generate more electricity for the people of Africa.

"We think that the U.S. Power Africa initiative will play an extremely important role in achieving the goal of providing electricity for Africa. So today I'm very pleased to announce that the World Bank Group, following President Obama's lead, will partner with Power Africa by committing $5 billion in direct financing, investment guarantees, and advisory services for project preparation in Power Africa's six initial partner countries, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, and Tanzania," he said.

KIm added that US Government and the World Bank Group were working on specific tasks and milestones which could help to achieve one quarter of Power Africa's goal of generating 10,000 megawatts of new power in Sub Saharan Africa.

The World Bank Vice President for Africa, Makhtar Dio, said the bank was working with African African leaders and their development partners to create power pools in Africa’s East, West, Central, and Southern sub-regions.

"Those countries with abundant geothermal, gas, hydro, solar, and wind resources can feed their excess power supply into a common pool, while neighboring states with less energy and generation capacity can benefit from this integrated approach to delivering electricity to their people," he said.