Kampala - The East African Community (EAC) will soon start harnessing its electricity generation resources that will see it solve rampant power shortages following the completion of the region's power master plan. Speaking during the sixth Sectoral Council meeting on Friday, Mr Jean Claude Nsengiyumva, the EAC deputy secretary general (in charge of production and social sector) said the master plan will also enable the region to take advantage of interconnection opportunities to access electricity from neighbouring regions at competitive rates. He said the Standing Committee on implementation of the Master Plan will now develop an implementation action plan and review progress from time to time.

"We are committed to adopting a holistic and comprehensive approach in addressing the energy sector issues facing the region," Mr Nsengiyumva said in Arusha, Tanzania. He noted that the secretariat, in collaboration with the African Development Bank, has developed a concept paper for integrated energy market development through an Integrated Energy Resources and Energy Markets Strategy, estimated at $3.2 million.

The strategy has five components including subsector master plans, regional energy policy, legal and regulatory framework, regional investment code and a priority list of projects from the sub-sector master plans from all partner states. "We have approached the AfDB to help us mobilise funding to implement it," he said.

By AllAfrica.com