Regional Integration Agenda, Investment on Power Progressing Well, Says Mahboub Maalim

ENA,February 7/2020 The former IGAD Executive Secretary, Mahboub Maalim, said the regional integration agenda and investment in the power infrastructure sector is progressing well.

In an exclusive interview with ENA, Kenya Power Board Chairman Mahboub Maalim said infrastructure developments in the continent in the last ten years are mostly advancing on power connectivity and energy.

“When we look at the development plan of different countries, there is an assumption that in the next couple of years, there is new city coming up and there is some infrastructure like railway that would probably be electrified,”  he said.

There is a growing trend of foreign direct investment, factories, manufacturing industries which require much more power.

“We cannot be overtaken by the consumers. I think this is going on well and we think that as far as the regional integration agenda is concerned, touching on power is going on very well,” the chair pointed out.

According to him, it is therefore very important to plan ahead and ensure that the continent has the capacity to provide power to industrial investment.

He further stated that renewable energy was adopted in the continent as it enables the continent to get power at much more less cost than has been before.

Speaking about the agreement between Ethiopia and Kenya that provides 400 MW of electricity to Kenya, Maalim said the construction of interconnection will hopefully be  completed very soon.

This cooperation is under the preview of IGAD, eastern Africa  community, the African continental agenda specially, ACFTA.

African Heads of State and Government hope of an integrated Africa, with regional integration being not only the key to the development of the continent, but also the path to achieving structural transformation and enabling the smooth and safe integration of Africa into the global economy, the chair explained.

Over the decades, regional integration has emerged as the main objective pursued by the African Heads of State and Government in the perspective of building a united and prosperous Africa.