The World Bank approved an additional financing of $335 million to support Tanzania’s efforts to scale up grid extension and grid densification, following the country’s achievement as one of the fastest electricity access expansion rates in Sub-Saharan Africa over the past decade.
The new International Development Association (IDA) credit to the Tanzania Rural Electrification Expansion Program (TREEP) will facilitate an additional 1,000,000 last-mile grid connections, including 8,500 education facilities and 2,500 healthcare facilities, as well as provide renewable energy options and clean cooking solutions to rural households.
Despite Tanzania’s impressive progress in increasing electricity access from 7% in 2011 to 38%in 2020, a large gap remains between electricity access rates in urban areas (73.2%) and rural areas (24.5%), and between national grid coverage (78.4%) and overall access/connectivity rate (38%).
With this additional financing, TREEP is expected to electrify 15% of the current off-grid population which will increase the access rate in Tanzania from 38% to 45%.
The additional financing to TREEP is co-financed by a grant from the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) in the amount of $6 million.
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