Gridworks, a British government-owned investor focused on Africa’s electricity networks, said on Monday it signed agreements to develop and invest in power transmission projects worth about $400 million during a visit to Ethiopia by Britain’s foreign minister.
The deals were signed during the trip by Yvette Cooper, which forms part of UK government efforts to use job creation and economic development initiatives to help curb the rising number of migrants from the Horn of Africa attempting to reach the United Kingdom.
The two projects mark the first public-private partnerships in Ethiopia’s electricity transmission sector, as Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government continues to gradually open the largely state-controlled economy to private investment, Reuters reported.
One of the projects will link Ethiopia’s Somali region to the country’s central and northeastern power grids.
The other will support the development of wind and solar power plants in the northeast and strengthen electricity interconnections with neighbouring Djibouti.
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“Transmission infrastructure is fundamental to growth, jobs and improving lives, and these projects will help unlock Ethiopia’s vast renewable energy potential,” British Ambassador to Ethiopia Darren Welch said in a joint statement released by the Ethiopian and British governments.
Ethiopia’s Finance Minister Ahmed Shide said the projects would support industrial growth by improving the reliability of power supply.
He added that the projects would also speed up electrification for nearly half of Ethiopian households that are still waiting to be connected to the national grid.
Separately, the United Kingdom agreed to provide up to 17.5 million pounds ($23.91 million) in technical assistance through a programme aimed at strengthening Ethiopia’s public investment and asset management systems.
The British foreign ministry said nationals from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan accounted for around 30% of people who crossed the English Channel in small boats over the past two years.
Successive UK governments have sought to address illegal immigration, an issue that has helped push populist campaigner Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party to a commanding lead in opinion polls.
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Image Credit: Ethiopian News Agency
