Minister of Energy Dipuo Peters today urged African countries to work together on their electrification programmes as this could enhance their ability to raise the necessary funds and reduce reliance on finance from development finance institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
“There are several electricity generation projects that are planned or under construction on the African continent for both coal fired power stations and hydro. Where possible we must pursue these in a collaborative manner and maximise knowledge and resources for these projects. This approach may even ease our ability to raise funds for these projects and reduce the levels of financial assistance required from the international development finance organisations such as the World Bank and IMF,” the minister said.
“Multinational solutions in the form of an interconnected grid could be valuable in dealing with local supply constraints and utilising all available energy resources. Strategic alignment on the external supply of our non-renewable resources can create longer term beneficiation of these resources within the region, instead of outside.”
Collaboration would also address the skills deficit in the nuclear industry.
The minister said African countries such as SA, Namibia, Niger and Gabon were rich in uranium which would be an advantage for the continent’s emerging nuclear industry. (Businessday)
