The Horn of Africa Initiative Secretariat participated in discussions facilitated by the African Development Bank (AfDB) between various Development Partners and the Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 8 June 2023. The discussions were part of the Bank’s consultations to design a new capacity building project to give the EAPP the final push to launch the power trade on the regional market.
The meeting noted progress in the establishment of the regional power market with support from the AfDB and other development partners including Swedish Development Agency (SIDA) Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), European Union (EU), USAID/Power Africa and the World Bank. As part of the exchanges, the HoAI Secretariat highlighted the recent proposal by South Sudan to include a power transmission line between Ethiopia and South Sudan as an import link in the regional network.
The inclusion of this project within the HoAI priority package was approved by the region’s Ministers of Finance at their 17th Ministerial Meeting held on 24 May in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
Prefeasibility, feasibility studies and engineering designs are expected to be launched once funding is identified.
