US gives $45m funding for Tanzania power project
The United States
will provide financing of $45 million for a power project in mainland
Tanzania and Zanzibar, the U.S. embassy said in a statement on
Thursday.
The funding is part
of a $698 million grant to the East African country by the United
States in 2008 under the Millennium Challenge Corporation to fund
water, energy, and infrastructure. A total of $206 million has been
allocated for energy projects.
“The work involves
the construction and rehabilitation of 24 power substations throughout
the mainland and on Unguja (the main island of the Zanzibar
archipelago),” said the statement.
The financing agreement is scheduled to be signed in Tanzania’s commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, on Friday.
The contract has been awarded to a joint venture between the U.S. firm, Symbion Power LLC, and French company, Areva.
The agreement will
finance the manufacture and installation of a new 100 megawatt
submarine power cable between mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar, according
to the U.S. embassy.
In April, the
United States and Zanzibar signed a $28 million package to finance a
power project aimed at alleviating frequent electricity outages in the
semi-autonomous islands.
Erratic power
supply is the bane of the economy of the Indian Ocean archipelago,
which relies on tourism for more than 25 percent of its gross domestic
product and 70 percent of its foreign exchange.
Electrical power was restored to Zanzibar on March 8, three months after the islands were plunged into darkness.
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