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Tuesday 28 June 2011

Tackle electricity crisis!

Three years since the government enacted laws allowing private investors to venture into the electricity generation sector, the power situation in the country has continued to worsen.

Since 2008, when the Tanzania Electricity Act 2008 was put in place, wananchi have been hearing of only promises, while the power crisis has slowly degenerated into a national disaster.

To highlight the scope of bureaucracy, lack of seriousness and political intrigues that have hampered the growth of this key service sector, the regulations that were supposed to render the Electricity Act operational from the word go were only gazetted recently, three years after the law was enacted.This means that for three years the Electricity Act has operated as a ghost.

How do we, as a country, expect to attract private investment into the power-generation sector with such kind of bureaucracy?

It is disturbing that even after the degeneration of the power sector to the current level, and the country’s continual slide in the Ease of Doing Business Index which has power cuts partly to blame, our leaders have shown little resolve to deal with the problem conclusively.

As long as the country continues to wallow in the uncertainty that faces the power generation sector and the lengthy blackouts, investors will continue to give Tanzania a cold shoulder.

Have leaders forgotten that no country develops without a stable energy sector? For how long is Tanzania going to be blinded by this national disaster?
Credit to the citizen.

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