Tanzania: Bank to give loans for power

Dar es Salaam. House owners, willing to get connected to the national electric power grid, may now get funds to undertake the task easier than before, thanks to a joint initiative by Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) and Akiba Commercial Bank (ACB).

The two institutions have come up with an initiative that seeks to simplify citizens’ access to funds for undertaking the electricity connectivity exercise.Under the initiative, launched in Dar es Salaam at the weekend, citizens (house owners) will be required to seek an approval from Tanesco regarding the eligibility of their houses to get connected.
They will then go to any of ACB’s branches and apply for a loan that suits their electricity connection needs.

“Basically, these will be very affordable loans because the utmost aim is to help people get connected to the electricity,” said the bank’s managing director, Mr John Lwande.A similar service will be offered to local contractors who have won tenders to build power transmission lines in various areas, according to the Tanesco managing director, Mr William Mhando.

According to Mr Mhando, the service is one of the ways by which the state power utility firm seeks to empower ordinary citizens and local contractors. “In the end, this should see us realising the goal of connecting at least 30 per cent Tanzanians come 2015 as demanded by the government,” said Mr Mhando.

Currently, it is only about 14 per cent of the country’s households that connected to the national power grid.
Tanesco charges at least Sh456,000 plus other fees in connection fee, an expensive venture to a majority of Tanzanians, most of whom are peasants.

According to Mr Mhando, Tanesco will try to engage other commercial banks in the service in order to make it accessible to many people.On the part of ACB, residents of Mwanza and other regions will soon start enjoying the service as the bank plans to open branches there soon.