Plan to get electricity to more Africans wins $8-billion in new pledges

An initiative to connect 300-million Africans to electricity in the next six years has won new pledges worth more than $8-billion from lenders including the Islamic Development Bank and the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank.

The Mission 300 initiative, launched by the World Bank and the African Development Bank in April, is projected to cost $90-billion. Its implementation faces challenges because the economies of countries in the region are severely constrained, mainly due to sluggish revenue and high debt service costs.

“Our national balance sheets are insufficient… to achieve Mission 300’s objectives,” Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema told an Africa energy summit in Tanzania.

Funding for the project is expected to come from multilateral development banks, development agencies, private businesses and philanthropic organisations such as the Rockefeller Foundation, which is part of the initiative.

Muhammad al Jasser, chairperson of the IsDb, said in a statement released during the summit that ended on