The Rural Energy Agency (REA) has once again assured the general public that it will connect to electricity all the remaining villages in the next 18 months.
More than 12,000 villages of the approximately 13,924 in Tanzania and its suburbs have been electrified since the enactment of the Energy Agency Act in 2005. REA Board Chairman Advocate Julius Kalolo expressed the commitment when he visited the Agency pavilion at the ongoing 45th Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF) Dar es Salaam, insisting that the promise will be fulfilled since all the required equipment have already been procured.
“We have planned that by December next year all the remaining villages will have electricity.” The main task we are undertaking currently is the distribution of these equipment to 1,924 villages which are yet to be connected to power,” said Kalolo.
Kalolo said through REA many villages have been connected to electricity, thus improving the livelihood of the people. He noted that a study conducted before the electrification in rural areas showed that students’ performance was very poor but after the houses were connected to power the students have improved their performance.
“Electricity in villages has brought positive results in various fields including health, education, agriculture and trade and also increased awareness for citizens to be able to focus on development activities, “said Kalolo.
He said REA project has contributed significantly to transforming economic growth by contributing to industrial growth and helping to reduce pollution by reducing the use of firewood and charcoal.
“REA has helped a lot to reduce the use of firewood thus helping women to use the time they spent in collecting firewood to do other productive activities.