Parliament has approved government’s request to borrow up to $331.5 million and also receive a grant of $ 276.5 Million from the International Development Association of the World Bank Group bringing the total to $ 638 million -to finance the Electricity Access Scale -up Project (EASP).
The loan will facilitate the Electricity Access Scale Up Project (EASP) to increase access to electricity across the country .The Minister of State for Planning, Hon. Amos Lugoloobi, while presenting the request said that under the EASP government will increase access to electricity from 19% to 44% by 2027.
The project forecasts an increase in the number of connections annually from an estimated 70,000 to 300,000 connections. Minister Lugoloobi said that the loan is expected to increase the share of clean energy usage for cooking from 15% to 40% by 2027.
“The project will benefit among others -households, commercial enterprises, industrial parks, public institutions. It will support refugees and host communities and women,” he said adding that the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development and the Uganda Energy Credit Capitalisation Company (UECCC) will be the main project implementing partners.
“Ordinarily we [the Opposition] are not opposed to borrowing. We are only opposed to misguided borrowing and poor loan management but with respect to this loan, it is national in character and reflects equitable distribution. It is good for development,” said Medard Sseggona who represented the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament (LOP).
Background
Eng. Irene Batebe the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development explained that the EASP will be implemented to realise the – three pillars of the United Nations’ Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) and the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7- which provide for universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services by 2030; doubling the share of energy efficiency and a substantial increase in the share of renewable energy. This she argued will lay a foundation for securing an inclusive, prosperous and sustainable future for Uganda.
