As of today there are 4.5million grid connected customers ,considering the total population of
Ethiopia approaching 110mln with 5 person per household it is expected that there are 22 million rural
and urban houses which indicate that 20% of the household are grid connected .With the vast houses
scattered in rural areas its been a big challenge to address the grid to each plot of land .While the
electricity access is greater than 65% the grid connection is not satisfactory .
Here i mention one of the reasons i suspect as a challenge.
Observing the recent growth in connection of customers more than 2mln in three years is a great
achievement in addition to the major transformation brought by modernization and targeted financial
support for densification , the effective implementations and strategies i would like to raise issue of
Housing conditions.
One may wonder why ?!
Its my conviction that increment in number of houses in the past four years and settlement and
urbanization of towns has given a fast implementation with additional expansion of
grid and rehabilitation and strengthen of the network .
The urban and rural housing and settlment (refering to google earth satellite imagery ) shows a huge
change within the cities and around towns ,this is a good indication of the growth in living standard of
rural community and creates a good motivation for more grid connection and densification.
There are many projects upcoming however the collaboration of roads infrastructure and urban and
rural housing projects is crucial to address and improve the livelihood of the people.
Cities should have master plans for the coming years to be able to plan the grid connection. There are
currently few Housing projects focused on the rural towns but they should be planned in parallel with
other infrastructures.
The same applies to the majority of sub-Saharan African countries with electrification rates .
Let me know your comment .
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