EU, AfDB sign agreement to provide €12mn for rural electrification program in Togo

The European Union, the African Development Bank and the government of Togo recently signed an agreement of around 12 million euros in the capital city, Lomé. The effort behind the project is aimed to support the social component of the CIZO rural electrification program from Togo (PRAVOST).

The PRAVOST project includes a social component that includes the electrification of 314 health centers and the equipment of 122 health centers with solar water heaters, 400 drinking water supplies and the deployment of 600 solar irrigation pumps. It also intends to provide electricity to around 2,000 homes through solar mini-grids, but also to set up a "PayGo" platform for the integration of payments and data collection, and to coordinate, manage and monitor and evaluate the project.

"We are happy to cooperate with the Republic of Togo, our brother country, and all the other partners, on this historic project which materializes the will of the authorities to continue their efforts to build national policies," the director general of the African Development Bank for West Africa, Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade opined while welcoming the efforts of the Togolese government to improve the living conditions of its population.

The agreement was initiated in the Togolese capital by the Minister of Economy and Finance, Sani Yaya, and Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade (director general of the African Development Bank for West Africa), in the presence of Marc Ably-Bidamon, Minister of Mines and Energy, and Bruno Hanses, the representative of the European Union delegation.

The European Union and the African Development Bank are all set to provide electricity at low cost to isolated villages using off-grid solar solutions. This joint support also aims to improve the rate of access to clean energy from community infrastructures in off-grid rural areas and the resilience of farmers by deploying solar irrigation pumps. Small farms in some 500 municipalities in rural areas will benefit from community infrastructure. This effort of financing is in the line with the African Development Bank's five strategic priorities titled "High 5".