The citizenry need education on rural electrification drive

He said the achievement would make things easier for the lives of many households and stimulate their economic activities.

For several years we have been hearing such news via various media outlets and in respect of many rural areas in the country as rural electrification drive undertaken by Rural Energy Agency (REA) intensifies.

The reasons for the intensification are clear – no country in the world was able to make giant economic strides without electric power.

And according to the 2012 National Census about 70 per cent of Tanzania’s 57 million plus population resides in rural areas whereas only 7 per cent of the rural population is connected to electricity supply.

As they say better late than never. Tanzania is at an early stage of rural electrification and is taking an approach that includes both on-grid and off-grid solutions.

The Rural Energy Board (REB), the Rural Energy Agency (REA), and the Rural Energy Fund (REF) were established to promote, stimulate and facilitate access to modern energy services in rural areas of Tanzania, with the Government’s goal to electrify all villages in Tanzania by 2021 with a rate of 2,000 villages per year.

As of June 2016, 4,395 villages in Tanzania were connected to electricity, which represents 36 per cent of the 12,268 villages in mainland Tanzania.

In any translation it is a gigantic, ambitious plan, but also shows how the government is committed to industrially develop the country.

With this in mind there is every reason for Tanzanians to support the good programme undertaken by their government by giving its agency, REA an enabling environment in their operations in the rural areas.

For REA, in particular its various contractors have been confronting many challenges in those areas.

For example for the Mbeya project aforementioned the Tanesco Communications and Customer Service Officer said the challenges being faced include the wananchi’s reluctance to allow the power infrastructures pass through their areas and the low response in connecting themselves to power.

The first one can easily be solved through education and as many of our rural folk do not understand the importance of electric power to themselves, let alone the nation.

The is also the issue of compensation to them in case their property – including buildings, farms and crops are destroyed to give way to electricity infrastructures.

As for the second nothing much can be done about due to the cost involved as many of the wananchi in the villages are poor.

The government can at least give subsidy to connection costs involved especially in respect equipment.