AFRICAN REPORT: POWER AFRICA INITIATIVE BY BARRACK OBAMA (A GROUND – BREAKING SUPPORT FOR AFRICA)

AFRICAN REPORT: POWER AFRICA INITIATIVE BY BARRACK OBAMA (A GROUND – BREAKING SUPPORT FOR AFRICA)
Addressing CEOs in Tanzania on 1 July, US President Barrack Obama said he saw Africa as the next major success story and with Power Africa he wanted the US to be part of that success.

The strategy is aimed at doubling access to electricity in Sub Saharan Africa. Thanking the African Development Bank for its partnership, as well as many companies that have stepped up with commitments, including some here,” President Obama said.
In his Address the AfDB president Donald Kaberuka said in Dar es Salaam, “We expect to allocate as much as US$3bn in the next five years... this will leverage at least four times more investments in the energy sector.”

Kaberuka noted that the bank’s interventions will include investment loans, reforms, advisory and guarantees. “Reforming the power sector is the key. The billions of dollars available for investment in the energy sector will translate into actual bulbs in people’s homes if state utilities run efficiently and effectively,” he added.

The main financial source for the bank’s assistance to the energy sector in the power initiative is the African Development Fund (ADF) and AfDB’s concessional window.

This indeed is a step in the right direction , we expect the “Power Africa Initiative” to bridge the gap of Abject Poverty in Africa