- COMESA will act as the regional supervisor of the regional energy access program.
- The program will provide grid connection, off-grid power generation and clean cooking solutions.
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), a regional economic organisation, and the World Bank will launch a $50-million program to support regional energy access in eastern and southern Africa. The program will engage specialised local and international firms and private investors to provide technical services. These services include grid connection, off-grid power generation and clean cooking solutions. COMESA will act as the regional supervisor of the program.
The Secretary-General of COMESA, Chileshe Kapwepwe, noted, “This is an African-owned and led platform to enhance project implementation and accelerate access to clean energy through the facilitation of knowledge exchange, project preparation, provision of advisory services and support for policy development in a timely manner.”
The grant is part of the World Bank’s $5-billion Accelerating Sustainable and Clean Access Transformation (ASCENT) program, designed to provide sustainable energy access to over 100 million people across 20 countries in eastern and southern Africa by 2030. A Digital Monitoring Reporting and Verification platform will be established to monitor and ensure the progress of the ASCENT program.