Limited funds hamper REA operations

He said the agency had so far electrified at least 508 institutions in the countryside including primary and secondary schools, business centres, Government extension offices and health centres.

“During the first three months of the year, we experienced erratic supply of wood poles, conductors and other minor items,” he said.

Mr Nyamayedenga said other challenges included shortage of transport to ferry construction teams and late connections of new lines to the grid by the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC).

“The situation improved towards the end of March but we had already had a three-month disruption. Already the challenges highlighted will not make it possible to reach our target.

He said ZETDC was experiencing challenges in connecting some of the lines to the national grid.

“That will further impact on attainment of our target,” he said.

Mr Nyamayedenga said limited funding continued to hamper the work of the agency with Treasury releasing $2 million out of the $5 million that it allocated in the 2012 National Budget.

“Sometimes the cash flows are determined by remittances from the ZETDC levy collections,” he said.

Faced with the colonial legacy of neglecting the rural poor from 1890 to 1980 and in a bid to stem migration to towns and cities, the new black government began the thrust to electrify all growth points and service centres in the early 1980s.

A number of initiatives including the African Development Bank-funded Masterplan study which Cabinet approved in 1997 and the GEF funded Solar project which ran from 1993 to 1998 culminated in the passage of a new Electricity Act in 2002, which saw the privatisation of Zesa and introduction of an electricity levy to fund operations of the REA.

Over the years the electricity has been increased from one percent to six and has seen the electrification of more than 7 105 rural institutions, farms, villages, boreholes and irrigation schemes.

The Government recognises that electrifying rural areas is a major component of enhancing socio-economic development of communities in those areas. — New Ziana.