Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining has announced that the World Bank has pumped in a $250.8 million (about K435 billion) grant to increase clean and sustainable energy.
The ministry’s Accelerating Sustainable and Clean Energy Access Transformation (Ascent) Malawi Project manager Austin Theu said this on Friday when introducing the project to Lilongwe District Executive Committee members.
He said Ascent is a successor project of Malawi Energy Access Project (MEAP) which the ministry will be working with Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) to implement.
Theu said the project will connect 811 000 households, 1 000 schools and 280 health facilities through Scaling-Up off Grid Solar Energy Solutions.
“This is a flagship project that will help government achieve the National Energy Compact and Mission300. As government, we intend to achieve 50 percent electrification through this project,” he said.
Theu said the project will also promote clean cooking solutions where more than 150 000 households will be reached out by 2030 by giving them loans to acquire induction cooking stoves and pelleted cooking stoves from Clean Cooking Companies.
In his remarks, Lilongwe District Council director of planning and development Willard Chirwa thanked government and the World Bank for the initiative, which he said will transform the lives of people in the district.
“Energy is a hub of any socio-economic development; hence, it will promote people’s businesses,” he said.
Ascent Project will be implemented from 2025 to 2030 nationwide.
