President Hichilema says Government will continue reforming energy sector

President Hakainde Hichilema says Government will continue working on energy reforms to support the agenda of universal access to electricity.

President Hichilema was speaking when he opened a three-day Energy Forum for Africa (EFFA) conference in Lusaka today.

The three-day conference, with over 1, 000 attendees and several speakers, is running under the theme: “Investment Opportunities in the Energy Sector in Zambia and Africa.”

The event has brought together industry leaders, policy-makers, researchers, and innovators to address Africa’s energy challenges and opportunities.

The President said since last year’s energy forum, a lot has been done in many related sectors.

“As a country, we have continued with the reforms in the electricity sub-sector. These reforms are fundamental to the agenda that we are here for – universal access to electricity,” the President said.

“The Government here will continue working on the reforms such as open access, net metering, independent power producers. These reforms are necessary to support the Government’s agenda for universal access to electricity.”

He also said Mission-300 is very important as it seeks to make electricity available to 300 million Africans.

“But the population of Africa is well above 1.3 billion. So this agenda is too narrow; so, we need to focus on universal access to electricity on the continent.

“We must raise our ambitions because there is no African who will accept not to be part of the target to receive electricity,” President Hichilema said.

President Hichilema underscored that electricity is the engine of Zambia’s economic growth agenda.

He added that the electricity shortages that Zambia is experiencing, for various historical reasons, have glaringly exposed the country’s economy.

The President indicated that as Zambia’s economy grows, so is the demand for electricity.

“So we have to mobilise resources quickly than ever before.

“The price of capital in Africa is too high. That is part of the inhibition to our growing the energy sector. We need to address those issues,” said President Hichilema.

To showcase its significance in the energy sector, Stanbic Bank is the platinum sponsor of the conference.