Minister of Energy and Minerals Prof Sospeter Muhongo, announced that Tanzania will benefit from the ‘Power Africa’ initiative launched by US President Barack Obama.
The initiative’s aim is to double the access to power in sub-Saharan Africa.
This will be achieved by building on Africa’s enormous power potential, including new discoveries of vast reserves of oil and gas, and the potential to develop clean geothermal, hydro, wind and solar energy.
The United States will commit more than 7 billion USD in financial support over the next five years to this effort.
Power Africa will also leverage private sector investments, beginning with more than 9 billion USD in initial commitments from private sector partners to support the development of more than 8,000 megawatts of new electricity generation in sub-Saharan Africa.
Within such framework, Tanzania aims to double its power production from 1,438.24 MW to 3,000 MW by 2015.
This will allow 30% of the population to have access to power as opposed to the current 21%.
