MBABANE – Independent
Power Producers were in the
spotlight at the Southern
African Development
Community (SADC) high
level resource mobilisation
conference held in Swaziland
earlier this month. The
Energy Investor’s Forum
was organised to showcase
regional energy projects in
the hope of luring investors.
As host, Swaziland’s King
Mswati was the attending
head of state at the event,
which otherwise drew energy
ministers and CEOs of utility
companies from the SADC
member states.
“Access to electricity in
some member states is below
20%, and approximately 190
million people in the SADC
region live without access to
electricity,” said Mswati, who
is the current SADC chairman.
“To meet projected energy
needs, the region must
increase power generation by 5
000 megawatts on average on
an annual basis until 2022,”
he said.
The conference
recommended that the SADC
Regional Development
Fund be put into operation,
with its component devoted
to regional infrastructure
support that will take the
place of national government
guarantees for energy
infrastructure projects.
“We need clarity on the
modalities of cooperation
between countries on
transboundary projects,”
Dr Stergomena Tax, SADC
executive secretary, told the
conference. “This needs to
involve a clear mechanism on
how the countries will address
technical and other issues in
relation to (transboundary
energy) projects.”
Delegates said the
SADC secretariat’s role
was to coordinate regional
energy policies and provide
guidelines for national
energy development, while
the financial institutions had
shown willingness to bankroll
worthy power generation
initiatives.
