Tanzania Could Add 1,200MW to its Energy Grid, ATI Indicate

The African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) indicates that it could bring USD1.2b investments into Tanzania’s energy sector and 1,200MW additional capacity.

For this, ATI urged the Government of Tanzania to strengthen their partnership during an international forum on Tanzania’s energy hosted by ATI in Dar es Salaam on November 9th, 2016.

At the forum, ATI gathered both the public and private sectors with the aim of finding solutions to unlock investments into Tanzania’s energy sector.

“We are here to help unlock investments in Tanzania. We really think we can be a fantastic partner to the Government and we think we can make a transformational investment proposition for Tanzania,” said John Lentaigne, Chief Underwriting Officer at ATI.

Participants in the forum included:

• Israel Kamuzora, Commissioner General at Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authority & Board Chairman at ATI
• Felix Ngamlagosi, Director General at Tanzania’s Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA)
• Decklan Mhaiki, Deputy Managing Director at the Tanzania Electricity Supply Company (TANESCO)
• Gideon Kaunda, Chairman at Rural Energy Agency (REA)
• Boniface Nyamo-Hanga, Director General at REA
• Lawrence Mafuru, Treasury Registrar of Tanzania

ATI is a multilateral financial institution providing insurance products to support African investments and trade.

The Agency was launched in 2001 with the financial and technical support of the World Bank (WB) and the backing of several African countries, including Tanzania.

ATI addresses the concerns of investors by insuring their transactions against a range of investment risks such as payment default by the Government or a Government agency.

Under the partnership, which was signed by former President Benjamin Mkapa in 2001, Tanzania and other countries agreed to grant Preferred Creditor Status to all projects backed by ATI.

This pledge gives investors, suppliers, and others the necessary comfort to launch projects in Tanzania, ATI indicates.

Tanzania can benefit more from its partnership with ATI by simply recommitting its pledge to support ATI-backed projects in Tanzania.

“ATI can help the country become more bankable and attract more investments. This is particularly crucial in the energy sector where there are currently enormous challenges,” noted Tusekile Kibonde, ATI’s Underwriting Representative in Tanzania.

In Tanzania, ATI has supported both the private sector and the government to address challenges in the energy, telecommunications, and financial services sectors.

With ATI’s support on such projects, Tanzania has been able to bring an additional 400MW of electricity to the national grid.

“As a country, I don’t think we need to be educated on the importance of ATI, I think this was seen,” Mafuru commented.

To date, ATI has paid USD4m in political risk claims to clients in support of investment transactions in Tanzania.