The government of Senegal aims to provide all citizens with access to affordable and reliable electricity by the year 2025. The objective forms part of the Emerging Senegal Plan, a development model that is focused on accelerating the country’s progress toward emerging market status.
Senegal boasts one of the highest access to electricity rates in West Africa, equating to 76% at the end of 2019. However, the rural and urban population’s access rates remain significantly disparate, with rates currently at 94% and 53.9%, respectively.
“These inequalities are likely to impact the efforts of the State for a balanced development of the territory and, more generally, hamper economic and social development at the national level,” the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy in said in a press release.
In order to address these differences and increase access to 100%, government is re-directing a focus on electrification projects. To fast-track this objective, the government organized a two-part virtual roundtable event – held on Tuesday April 6 and again on Thursday April 8, 2021 – that aims to mobilize 732 billion CFA francs (equivalent to US$1.3B) for the development of projects in both rural and peri-urban areas.
The roundtable event was co-chaired by H.E. Sophie Gladima, Minister of Petroleum and Energy, and H.E. Amadou Hott, Minister of Economy, Planning and International Cooperation, and saw the participation of public institutions, technical services of the State, development partners, as well as the private sector.
Also read: Senegal: Catalyzing growth through regional integration
“The roundtable’s main objective is to present the government’s strategy to achieve universal access to quality energy, in sufficient quantity, at a lower cost and sustainably by 2025. The country has decided to collect financial commitments from technical and financial partners from the private sector to support its implementation. The roundtable is in line with the actions identified for the implementation of the Complementary Plan for universal access to electricity,” stated the Ministry.
Additionally, the World Bank has demonstrated its commitment to assisting Senegal in achieving its electrification objectives. On Tuesday April 6, the World Bank announced a US$300M pledge to two electrification projects, in which a third of this financing will enable the electrification of 24% of households currently without access to electricity. Capitalizing on the World Bank’s expertise, Senegal is well on its way to achieve universal access to electricity by 2025.
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