World Bank to fund electricity project

The World Bank has approved a US $7 million project in Djibouti that includes initiatives to expand electricity distribution, introduce a pilot wind farm and provide technical assistance to the Horn of African nation, the organisation announced in a statement. The "Power Access and Diversification Project for the Republic of Djibouti" will extend the electricity distribution network in Djibouti Ville to the Balbala neighbourhood - a large, low-income area in the western outskirts of the capital. The pilot wind farm will be introduced near Arta, a small town west of the capital, while technical assistance will focus on targeted studies countrywide to improve sector reliability, efficiency and performance. "Poverty studies have shown a strong correlation between electricity access and poverty in Djibouti. Forty three percent of urban households do not have access to electricity, and 70 percent of these are among the poor," reported Anna Bjerde, task team leader, in the statement on Tuesday. According to the World Bank, Djibouti depends strongly on imported oil products with high energy costs. Electricity access is almost nonexistent in rural areas, with the exception of a few small towns and some villages that financed their own generators. "A large majority (99.5 percent) of the urban population that has access to electricity uses it as their primary source for lighting. Though expensive, kerosene is commonly used for the other domestic needs," the statement added.