Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
The Rural Electrification Authority (REA) says it requires an annual estimated investment of 50 Million United States dollars to implement projects under the Rural Electrification Master Plan (REMP).
REA Executive Director Geoffrey Musonda says the Authority has been pursuing strategies to address the challenge of mobilising resources to 
meet its target.
Mr Musonda sys the Authority is negotiating synergies with a number of cooperating partners to address the prevailing challenge of marshaling resources to effectively achieve the desired outcomes of the rural electrification targets by 2030.
He has told journalists in Lusaka when he announced the new Electricity Services Access Project (ESAP that the Authority has set electrification targets at 51 percent for rural areas to be reached by 2030.
Meanwhile Mr Musonda has expressed concern that despite the Authority putting up electricity infrastructure in rural areas, the level of uptake has remained very low.
He has attributed this to high connection fees that rural communities cannot afford.
Mr Musonda says it is for this reason that the Authority is targeting to connect 22, 000 low income households and about 1, 000 medium and Small-scale enterprises in rural areas.
He says this will translate into an estimated 115, 000 beneficiaries.
The World Bank has granted the Zambian government a credit facility amounting to US$26.5 million for the Electricity Services Access Project (ESAP) aimed at scaling up the rural electrification programme in nine of the ten provinces part from Lusaka.