By Chisomo Phiri

President Dr.Lazarus Chakwera says  electricity is the key to unlocking economic and wealth creation opportunities as it helps in agricultural production, mining sector and tourism, among others.

He was speaking on Monday during the signing ceremony of a US$300 million compact with the World Bank, a funding which will support Malawi to achieve universal energy and electricity access by 2030.

Chakwera said for the past years Malawi has faced a lot of setbacks in the energy sector as the country was hit by Cyclones Ana and Gombe, which severely damaged Kapichira Power Plant and plunged one third of the few Malawian homes that were connected to electricity back in the dark.

“When we had problems with our electricity World Bank was the first to come to our aid and work together with us to see the plant restored, which we accomplished in less than one year,” he said.

The President stated that it is the wish of his administration to see 75 percent of Malawians being connected to electricity by 2030.

“In the last four years, we have managed to connect 25 percent of Malawians with electricity from 12 percent as we know that with electricity our country will be developed,” said Chakwera.

On her part,Managing Director for World Bank, Anna Bjerde,  commended the Malawi government for its efforts in increasing electricity access from 12 to 25 percent in the last four years.

She said, with collaboration with the Malawi government they want to see many Malawians having access to electricity as many African countries  lack electricity.

The grant is under the Accelerating Sustainable & Clean Energy Access Transformation (ASCENT) initiative.