(Bloomberg) -- Burundi, where about 10% of the population has access to electricity, will see the expansion of its power-distribution grid from next year, boosted by $1.4 billion of funding from international agencies.
The landlocked nation’s government has entered a partnership with Weza Power, a unit of Anzana Electric Group, to extend its grid nationally, and plans to give about 300,000 people in four rural regions access to power next year, growing this to 9 million people by 2030, Anzana Chief Executive Officer Brian Kelly said.
Burundi is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa and also one of its poorest, with only a few urban areas having access to electricity. Burundi Water and Electricity Production and Distribution Authority, known by its French acronym Regideso, is working to improve generation, and about 200 megawatts is to come online by 2027 or sooner, Kelly said by email. Most of this will be from hydroelectric projects, he said.
Weza will target more than 1,800 kilometers (1,119 miles) of medium- and low-voltage lines next year, raising this to 20,000 kilometers by 2030.
The company has “early, committed support” from the US government’s Power Africa, the US International Development Finance Corp., the US Trade and Development Agency, the World Bank and its private investment arm International Finance Corp., and the UK government via Anzana’s main shareholder, Gridworks Development Partners, Kelly said.
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“We plan to attract additional capital from private financiers and foundations, development finance institutions, climate investors, and additional bilateral donors and multilateral development banks,” he said.
Jean Bosco Barege, Burundi’s ambassador in the US, estimates the total pledged for Burundi’s grid at $1.4 billion.
Burundi’s 14 million people have grappled with waves of floods over recent years that have displaced thousands of citizens and devastated parts of its economic hub of Bujumbura.
The most recent deluge in April raised the number of people displaced by climate change by 25% to 96,000, according to the United Nations.
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