Energy Expert Johnstone Chikwanda has observed that there is need to improve funding to institutions dealing with various approval stages in the energy sector such as local councils, Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) and Energy Regulation Board (ERB).
Mr. Chikwanda says the institutions have customer service charters which stipulate timeframes for discharging their mandate and the laws which established these institutions have provided for timeframes in which to conclude certain approvals but they have been failing in most cases to operate within these time frames.
He says part of the reasons they may have been failing to adhere to timeframes provided in the laws and service charters include chronic underfunding, lack of adequate manpower in departments which are at the cutting edge of service delivery, inadequate presence in provincial centres and inadequate management authority to provide for interim authorisations pending board approvals among others.
Mr. Chikwanda’s comment follows last week’s Presidential address to Parliament which highlighted that government has shortened approval processes for procurement of Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) with Zesco to 10 days in some cases and that amendments to certain laws will be made to shorten the regulatory approval processes.
The Energy expert has called on ZESCO to update the nation on the progress made on dismantling the backlog of connections and how many connections are expected over the next year.
He has further called on the Rural Electrification Authority (REA) which received unprecedented funding in the 2023 national budget to the tune of K720 million up by 100 percent from previous allocations to equally update the nation regarding the number of connections to be made under this budget cycle in order to keep track of electrification rate performance as the country draws closer to 2030 target of universal access to electricity.
