Govt signs K420 million grant with EU

Secretary to Treasury Fredson Yamba shakes hands with EU Head of Delegation Alessandro Mariani – Picture by Albert Mpezeni

Government has signed a K420 million grant with the European Union (EU) to support Zambia’s energy sector.

The 40 million Euros project is being financed from the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) under the African Caribbean Pacific-European Union (ACP-EU) partnership agreement covering the period 2017 to 2021.

Speaking during the signing of the agreement in Lusaka this afternoon, Finance Minister Felix Mutati says the overall objective of the project is to increase access to clean, reliable and affordable energy and promote renewable energy production and energy efficiency, in line with the national indicative programme.

Mr. Mutati says in the quest to address the current energy challenges in the country, the Ministry of Energy with support from the EU have embarked on short term solutions aimed at implementing energy efficiency measures and creating an enabling environment for investment in energy.

He says with the financing agreement in place, government will ensure the expeditious launch of the renewable energy feed-in-tariff strategy which is a key requirement for the successful implementation of grid energy projects and for attracting more investments in the sector.

The Finance Minister has since assured the EU delegation that the grant will put to good use and not misused.

Speaking earlier, EU Ambassador to Zambia Alessandro Mariani says more energy business missions from Member States of the European Union seek to explore investment opportunities in Zambia in anticipation of the reforms.

Mr. Mariani says the upcoming regional conference on renewable energy organized by the French Embassy in Zambia to be on 5^th December, 2016 is yet another example of this growing interest from the private sector.