The African Development Bank (AfDB) has allocated an amount of about €313 million to Cameroon. More than three-quarters of this loan is earmarked for the financing of two projects dealing respectively with rural electrification and climate resilience.
Some 8.9 million farmers, including 6.5 million in Cameroon and 2.4 million in Chad, will soon be connected to the electricity grid. The Electricity Interconnection Project between these two Central African countries has recently received partial financing from the African Development Bank (AfDB). This involves a loan of about 148 billion CFA francs, or 226 million euros out of the roughly 457 million euros needed to carry out the project. The overall cost will now have to be completed by Chad itself.
The interconnection of the electricity grids of Cameroon and Chad will enable the two countries to optimise their energy resources through the integration of electricity production, transmission and distribution infrastructures. In particular, high-voltage lines with a total length of 1,024 kilometres (786 km in Cameroon and 238 km in Chad) will be built to electrify 478 localities identified along these lines (409 in Cameroon and 69 in Chad). In addition to regional integration, the aim of this project is to increase the rate of rural electrification in both countries.
In Cameroon, data from the Rural Electrification Agency indicate that nearly 22% of localities in rural areas are connected to the electricity grid, for a rural electrification rate that barely reaches 20% nationally. The environmental benefits of rural electrification include reduced population pressure on forests, better controlled field irrigation, and more effective control of desert encroachment. Read more…
