WASHINGTON, March 30, 2017— The World Bank today approved a $325 million credit to Côte d’Ivoire for an Electricity Transmission and Access Project. This project is financed under the IDA Scale Up Facility, a new financing window established by the World Bank Group.
Increased access to electricity is a key element needed to generate income and jobs, promoting productive uses of electricity, thereby spurring growth and development outside Greater Abidjan. This project will contribute to the improvement of the efficiency and reliability of electricity supply and help increase access to electricity in the country.
“I am particularly pleased to see the birth of this project which is the largest project financed by the World Bank Group in Côte d’Ivoire to date,” said Pierre Laporte, the World Bank Country Director for Côte d’Ivoire. The World Bank’s 2015 Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) shows that there are disparities in access to basic services and gender disparities across wealth and urban versus rural groups. “This highlights, among other priorities, the importance of extending electricity services to improve living conditions and increase income generation activities, particularly for women.“
The project will finance priority investments to upgrade and extend the national transmission and distribution network and strengthen the reliability of power supply in the country. It will also accelerate access to electricity for the population in 10 regional capital cities and rural areas in South Western regions of Côte d’Ivoire. This will be achieved by supporting the Government’s “Electricity for All” Program, which is expected to bring access to electricity to around one million low-income households over five years by financing the connection fee through a revolving fund. This mechanism will reduce the up-front connection cost 100-fold, from about $250 to $2 per household.
“At about 29 percent, the electricity access rate is relatively low compared to that of countries with similar per capita income. However, the electricity coverage rate, which measures the number of people living in electrified villages in relation to the total number of people, is 78 percent. This indicates that a significant part of the population in electrified areas does not have a grid connection, despite proximity to the grid. In rural areas, this gap is mainly explained by the current barrier to access created by the high upfront connection charge,” said Manuel Luengo and Yussuf Uwamahoro, Co-Task Team Leaders for the Project.
The project contributes to the Government of Côte d’Ivoire’s economic growth and poverty reduction objectives outlined in the National Development Plan 2016-2020 and long-term objectives outlined in its Vision 2040. The project objectives will help support economic activity and household access to a modern energy source, which in turn support the Government’s objective of becoming an emerging economy by 2020.
* The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), established in 1960, helps the world’s poorest countries by providing grants and low to zero-interest loans for projects and programs that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve poor people’s lives. IDA is one of the largest sources of assistance for the world’s 77 poorest countries, 39 of which are in Africa. Resources from IDA bring positive change to the 1.3 billion people who live in IDA countries. Since 1960, IDA has supported development work in 112 countries. Annual commitments have averaged about $19 billion over the last three years, with about 50 percent going to Africa.
