Malawi private contractors benefit from K6.8 billion Marep 7
Malawi private contractors have, for the first time, been involved in the implementation of K6.8 billion Malawi Rural Electrification Programme (Marep) phase 7, targeting 81 trading centres, a government official has said.
“Marep phase 7 is currently under implementation and will benefit 81 trading centres. So far, 54 trading centres have been energised and 27 are at various levels of implementation,” said Minister of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining Atupele Muluzi in an interview this week.
“Currently, the ministry is the process of planning for Marep phase 8, which will also target 81 trading centres. Discussions are also underway with potential partners to support rural electrification efforts.”
Muluzi was asked to give an outline of the performance of Marep, which was initiated in the 1980s, with Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) as the implementing agent, using donor and the power supplier’s resources.
Following reforms in the energy sector, the ministry through the Department of Energy was mandated to plan and implement Marep, whose resources were solicited through an energy fund.
However, in 2004, government passed a Rural Electrification Act to govern activities of Marep, which resulted in the establishment of a dedicated rural electrification fund.
Figures from Escom indicate that Malawi’s electricity penetration is at a paltry 10 percent, which means that a large population of Malawians has no access to electricity—a catalyst for socio-economic development.
“Electricity is a basic necessity for any meaningful development to take place particularly in the rural areas. It is, therefore, important that government sees to it that electricity is provided to people wherever they are while we also seek to address the relevant binding constraints to guaranteeing access such as adequate funding, weak institutional capacity and inadequate power supply,” said Muluzi.
He appealed for continued involvement of the private sector in power generation, calling on the public should desist from vandalising Marep and Escom infrastructure as this derails investments in the sector.
On concerns that some areas are left out in the programme, Muluzi said Marep is guided by several operational philosophies, including a Master Plan where equity among districts is the main driving motivation.
He said due to resource constraints Marep is executed in phases; hence, the need to establish a dedicated funding vehicle for mobilising local resources and leveraging donor support.
Marep follows a strict equity principle where all districts stand equal to each other, irrespective of their population size or level of electrification.
“This simple, but robust criteria narrows down competition for resources to be confined to trading centres within each district and not among or between districts,” said Muluzi.
To ensure objectivity in site selection, targeted trading centres in each district should be based on a rational ranking process, following known economic sub-criteria, which is the expected electricity demand, linked to the level of economic activities.
