FAR REACHING POLICY ON EAST AFRICAN ENERGY HATCHED AT THE FIRST CONFERENCE OF ITS KIND HELD IN DAR ES SALAAM.
News Feature By Leo Odera Omolo
The first East African Energy Conference held recently in Dar Es Salaam came up with a call on private sector to design innovative business models to address the region’s energy challenges.
Tanzania’s Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda, in a keynote address while opening the three-day conference at the Movenpick Hotel, said private sector participation was key to realizing benefits from exploitation of the energy resources the region is endowed with.”For our East African region, private sector participation in the energy sector is a key bridge towards development in this {energy} sector. The private sector has a catalytic role to support rural electrification programs which started operation in late 2007. What of the five Partner State governments, representatives from the East Africa Community and the East African Business Council and the business people from outside the region?”, PM Pinda asked.
The conference was being held under the theme “Energy ,A viable Business Opportunity”. And because energy is a prerequisite for the proper functioning of nearly all sub-sectors of the economy, and that it’s a failure of development initiatives. PM Pinda noted that the importance and timing of the Energy Conference couldn’t have been more appropriate, more so coming at a time “when our countries in the region are facing power gaps”.
PM Pinda told the delegates that East African Community states governments are making efforts to create a conducive environment for the private sector through the development of appropriate energy policies, regulatory and institutional frameworks, while reminding the meeting of the existence of the East African Power System Master Plan, which is due to be updated to include the republics of Rwanda and Burundi. One of the outputs of that process will be a Least Cost Power Development Plan and a Grid Code that will be used to govern trans-boundary power exchanges in the Eac region.
The Prime Minister also noted that the Regional Strategy to address all aspect of petroleum distribution system in the region, and a Regional Emergency Petroleum Supply Plan to govern petroleum products in the event of a disaster or emergency had been developed. “Realizing that full benefits of these efforts”, Pinda said a requires “innovative business models by the business community including working within the private public partnership framework”.
He rallied the business community to embrace the energy sector as a viable area of investment just as they do in the case of other sectors.
The Deputy Secretary General of the East African Community Jean Claude Nsengiyumwa, in his speech, reiterated the EAC’S commitment to supporting initiatives in the East African energy sector, noting that developing the energy sector was way key to realizing the Community’s mission of widening and deepening economic,political,social and cultural integration in order to improve the quality of life of the people of East Africa through increased competitiveness, value added production , trader and investment.
Delegates at the conference also included William Ngelela Minister for Energy in Burundi,,Dr Caoleb Nyamajeje Waggoro, Director of Production and Social Sector and the chairman of the East African Business Council, Mr. Regional Mengi, the executive director of the East African Business Council Mr. Charles Mb, representatives of the permanent secretaries from the Ministries of Energy for the Republic of Rwanda and the Republic of Tanzania ,private sector players and business people from within East Africa.
Some of the activities that also took place during the meeting included country’s presentation on investment in energy projects, energy conservation, a two-day exhibition by vendors of energy products, showcasing various energy technologies. Plenary seasons and field trips to various energy fixtures projects.
leooderaomolo@yahoo.com
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Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:17:16 -0700 (PDT)
From: Leo Odera Omolo
Subject: Energy conference held in Tanzania ended with far reaching policy