Ministry of Energy says it has electrified over 460 sites in the Malawi Rural Electrification Program (MAREP) 9, representing 85 percent.
Deputy Director responsible for rural electrification in the Ministry of Energy, Francis Chingoli, revealed this on Wednesday during a panel discussion on promotion of equitadable access to clean energy.
However, chingoli said the deadline for MAREP 9 has been extended with january 2025 due to fuel scarcity.
He proposed that government should consider reviewing the act to reduce approving layers to the projects after reports that the process are being crippled by corruption.
“May be if they can review the act so that the approving layers should be reduced, may be to two so that once the procurement entity has done it’s evaluation, the PPDA must be the last institutions” said Chingoli.
Civil Society Network On Climate Change (CISONECC) National Cordinator Julius Ngoma said the meeting has helped to reveal so many gaps in the provision of access to clean and renewable energy which needs to be addressed to give the community their social benefits.
“Through this meeting we have seen that there are a lot of challenges to this program. Issues of corruption, provision of resources and also efficiency in terms of identifying the site areas, among others” said Ngoma.
CISSONEC organized the meeting in collaboration with Centre for Environmental Policy Advocacy CEPA and Oxfam in Malawi with support from European Union in Malawi.
