Last week the Zanzibar Electricity Company (ZECO) imported under sea cable to connect the Islets to the national grid. The work of installing the cables to Kisiwapanza- two kilometres, and Makoongwe 1.5 kilometres respectively, is underway and would be complete in ten days should ‘all goes on well.’
Just as the news about the start of the project spread, residents who are mostly poor, were happy, saying access to the electricity from the national grid would transform their lives fast. “We are tired of the smoke from burning wood; few people who can afford generators are also tired of the noise.
Students cannot study at night due to lack of electricity. Power from the grid will help us change,” Mr Hamad Omar Ali, resident of Kisiwapanza said. According to the ZECO General Manager Mr Hassan Ali Mbarouk, about 1.5bn/= has been spent on purchasing the under sea cables to connect the islands to the national Grid.
The project is being implemented under the Rural Electrification Programme, with the objective of connecting all Shehias to the national grid. Zanzibar has managed to connect almost all 385 Shehias, only four are yet to enjoy this service and it is expected that only one will not be connected to the national grid by end of this year.
Shehia is a term used in Zanzibar meaning a Sub-ward, the lowest Administrative Authority in the hierarchy of Regional Administration. While a Ward is an administrative division of a city or borough that typically elects and is represented by a councillor or councillors.
Mr Mbarouk says Zanzibar has recorded admirable success in rural electrification by 87 percent of the target. Norway started funding rural electrification project in 1986, before pulling out and living it under ZECO.
The General Manager said, other inhabited smaller Islands of Kojani in Pemba and Tumbatu in Unguja have already been connected to the national grid and by this year, with 800 households and 400 households already having using the lights in Tumbatu and Kojani Islets respectively. “Rural electrification has helped to connect many villages to ‘reliable’ power from the National Grid.
ZECO customers are now more than 135, 924. Unguja is connected through Dar es salaam, while Pemba is connected through Tanga region,” Mr Mbarouk said.
He said the cable to Unguja is able to carry 100 megawatts (MW), but the consumption is now 58MW, while the cable to Pemba has the capacity of 20 megawatts, but the need so far is only 7WM, as he appeals to Zanzibari’s to use electricity.
Mr Mbarouk said that his company is determined to make sure that people in all areas of Zanzibar have easy access to electricity from the national grid, which is more reliable compared with power from other sources. However, he said lack of special fund for the rural electrification program hampers the project.
“I wish we had funds like that for the REA (Rural Energy Agency) in Tanzania mainland, it would have been good” said, the General Manager. He mentioned challenges as small use of power in the Islets, and many families still unable to meet the costs of connecting to the National Grid.
A 45-year-old teacher/parent in Makoongwe Ms Mwanaidi Hamad said residents including students in the Islet are happy that at last their area has power, “an opportunity for students to study hard at school and accelerate income generating activities.” She argues that most people in many villages had remained in abject poverty because of lack of electricity, but now we may start thinking of how electricity can help change their lives.
Teacher’s son and daughter had this to say: “We are eager to have electricity in our house so that we can watch television. Father said that once we have power he will buy television set. We will also use power for studying.”
When Tumbatu, Small Island was connected to the national grid two years ago, residents including children there had similar feeling about availability of power, using it for economical activities, in dispensaries and studying.
Zanzibar President Ali Mohamed Shein had promised to have all villages connected to electricity either to the national Grid, or at least solar power, arguing that reliable electricity minimizes poverty. “Well distribution of electricity in the country is good for social, economical, and political development.
We must make sure that power is available in every village,” Dr Shein said. Zanzibar relies heavily on electricity from the national Grid from Tanzania mainland and few houses use solar power, as the government embarks on research to find alternative sources of electricity.
Tests having been going on to use wind, and waste as source of energy, as the Islands hope to have no problem of electricity in the near future should the planned ‘Oil and Gas’ exploration project be successful. The World Bank says, access to affordable reliable and sustainable energy is vital to ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity.
It points out that energy like electricity can help improve the quality of life for millions around the world and key to promoting economic development. On going changes in Zanzibar and also in Tanzania mainland, electrification remains one of the priorities for the governments and some development partners support connecting villages to the national grid.
The government also welcomes private power companies to produce and supply electricity to meet the demand. As Zanzibar’s population continues to grow at the rate of 2.7 percent annually, the islands will require more megawatts of electricity in the near future.
Zanzibar, with a population of 1.3 million people (2012 census), has recorded low turnup of investors in recent years – partly due to challenges being faced by the Islands’ power sector. ZECO’s Public Relations Officer Mr Salum Abdalla says that the ongoing efforts by the Government through his company will solve Zanzibar’s electricity problem in the near future.
“We are on track to stable power, accessible to all people,” he said. Mr Abdalla said that rural electrification program is proving successful in raising social, environmental and economical standards in rural areas. People are being encouraged to use power and therefore minimizing cutting down of trees for firewood or charcoal. Rural electrification is the process of bringing electrical power to rural and remote areas.
In Sub-Saharan Africa less than 10 percent of the rural population has access to electricity, and globally rural electrification progresses only slowly. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that, if current trends do not change, the number of people without electricity will rise from current 1.1 billion to 1.2 billion by the year 2030.
Due to high population growth, the number of people without electricity is expected to rise in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is also estimated that around 2.9 billion people globally, mainly in developing countries rely on wood or other biomass for cooking and heating, resulting in indoor and outdoor air pollution attributable for 4.3 million deaths each year.
Electricity is considered an important factor to improve the lives of people in general and of the elderly and disabled in particular. For the most part, the income of electrified households using network electricity is higher than that of households without electricity.
Many studies have shown that access to electricity helps create jobs in rural areas, as households take up new trades. Most rural areas are also agriculture areas, where households need electricity for irrigation and crop production, and for small industrial commercial activities like bricks manufacturing and ice making.
/Daily News.
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