Rural electrification, the way to go

Government, through the Ministry of Energy and Power Development should be applauded for its Rural Energy Master Plan (REMP) project of electrifying rural areas nationwide.

This constructive move was recently announced by Energy and Power Development Minister, Samuel Undege saying his Ministry was initiating a fast track rural electrification programme through Rural Electricity Agency (REA).

Pertaining to rural areas, lack of access to energy, precisely electricity is one of the major impediments to economic development.

Zimbabwe has been lagging behind on the issue of rural electrification. As it stands, most industries are only found in urban areas. This has been affecting expansion of rural areas. According to reports, about a mere 21% of electricity is being used in the rural areas. If REMP is finalized and fully implemented, the productive use of electricity would help reduce poverty by enabling alternative sources of income.

Electrifying rural areas is in tandem with the country's economic blue print, Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Development, (Zim-Asset). REMP also links well with Zim-Asset's Social Services and Poverty Eradication cluster whose thrust is to enable the Government of Zimbabwe to improve the living standards of the citizenry for an empowered society and a growing economy.

It is imperative to note that electricity is a pre-requisite for productive industries. Rural electrification will bring along benefits like employment creation in many sectors like the agriculture and mining sector. Looking at agriculture, most irrigation equipment is more efficient when using electricity. This will reduce the work load done by human beings as most work will be done by machines. In simple terms, electricity promotes easy way of doing business.

Furthermore, electrification of remote areas will entice prospective investors who may want to do business in Zimbabwe. There is quite a number of both local and foreign investors who are interested in investing in this country. The more investors come in the country, the higher the chances of improved industries that can positively translate to economic growth.

It is worth to note that players in the dairy industry have also commended Government for initiating REMP. They highlighted that electrifying rural areas is of great importance to them, as this will guarantee high quality milk as well as profit maximization in their sector.

Another added advantage of rural electricity is that it has an income benefit to the state. Thus, as people pay electricity bills, Government gets a share from it as tax.

Besides economic benefits, rural electrification has also plenty of social merits. Domestically, when rural people have electrified homesteads they will benefit more from it, thus through cooking, ironing, lights and access to electronic media such as computers, electronic television and radio sets. Most people in rural areas depend on firewood for their cooking. However, deforestation is against Environmental and Management Authority (EMA) authorization.

Rural citizens will also have improved health systems. In some remote areas, hospitals and clinics are closed at night because of lack of electricity. If these areas are electrified, they will reduce mortality rate through improved health services.

According to International Energy Agency's (IEA) World Energy Outlook (2013), more than 1.2 million people worldwide did not have access to electricity in 2011. It also finds that the most affected of the people are in sub Saharan Africa which contributes 32%.This has also been the major impediment to economic growth in Africa as a whole.

Therefore, Government should be highly praised for its efforts to electrify rural areas, as lack of access to energy in these remote areas has the same magnitude as that of lacking access to any other types of infrastructure that is needed for public use.