ZAMBIA: Berlin pledges €35 million for water and renewable energies

The German and Zambian governments sign new grant agreements totaling €35.8 million. The funding provided by Germany is intended for the water and sanitation sectors, as well as the production of renewable energies.

Germany and Zambia are strengthening their relations through new financing agreements totaling 750 million Zambian kwachas, or 35.8 million euros. The grants awarded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) are intended to support three development projects in the East African country.

The first agreement concerns the water sector through the Chipata Drinking Water Supply Project in the Eastern Province, which has already received funding of 7 million euros from the German Development Agency ( KfW) a few years ago. The project involves the modernization and expansion of existing water supply and sanitation systems in all district capitals of the Eastern Province and its provincial capital Chipata.

The delay of the Get FiT program

The BMZ subsidy is also intended for the management of water resources and sanitation in medium-sized towns. These initiatives aim to improve access to water in Zambia. In 2018, the Joint Monitoring Program (JMP) of the African Development Bank (AfDB) estimated that the rate of access to drinking water and basic sanitation was 61%. That is 42% in rural areas and 84% in urban areas for water, and 19% in rural areas and 36% in urban areas for sanitation.

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Another key sector affected by the subsidy agreements between Germany and Zambia is renewable energy. Berlin is thus financing the second phase of the Get FiT Zambia program which aims to develop renewable energies with the support of the private sector, in particular independent power producers (IPP). Under this program, Lusaka expects to purchase 200 MW of renewable energy capacity, divided into a 100 MW cycle of solar photovoltaic and a 100 MW cycle of small hydroelectric plants.

However, since the announcement of the results of the first calls for tenders in 2019, the program has barely evolved. For the record, the Zambian authorities had selected the Italian company Building Energy and the South African Pele Energy for the construction of two 20 MW solar power plants in Bulemu East and West, in central Zambia. The British company Globeleq and the South African Aurora Power Solutions had applied to build the Aurora Sola 1 and 2 solar power plants with a combined capacity of 40 MW. The Garneton Nouth and South Solar power plants (20 MW) planned in central Zambia had been awarded to the French company InnoVent and Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC), a Zambian company. German funding will certainly help unlock these renewable energy projects.