Electrification projects face delays

Namibia must move faster to turn approved electrification projects into actual household connections, energy minister Modestus Amutse has said, warning that delays across the delivery chain were leaving communities without electricity.

Speaking at a ministerial engagement on accelerating electrification project delivery on Monday earlier this week, Amutse said the Government’s performance should ultimately be measured by usable connections rather than infrastructure built.

“Electrification is not merely the construction of poles and lines. It is about dignity. It is about education, safety, health, communication and economic participation,” he said.

The 2023 Census shows that about 59.5% of Namibian households have access to electricity, compared with 77.3% in urban areas and 37.9% in rural areas.

“These figures make one fact very clear: electrification must remain one of the highest delivery priorities of this Government,” Amutse said.

The minister said the engagement was intended to identify where projects were being delayed, what support was required and who should act.

“This is not a meeting to search for someone to blame. But it is also not a meeting to exchange comfortable explanations. It is a working session,” he said.

For the 2026/27 financial year, the ministry has distributed implementation across NamPower, five regional electricity distributors, the City of Windhoek, Oshakati Premier Electric and the Environmental Investment Fund.

The consolidated register covers all 14 regions and contains 94 physical project or priority lines, including more than 6,000 planned household or dwelling connections, business centres, schools and public institutions, high-mast lights, street lighting and off-grid projects.

But Amutse cautioned that “a long list is not the same as delivery”.

“An allocation is not a connection. A transfer is not expenditure. A tender is not a contractor on site. And a completed distribution network is not the same as an energised household,” he said.

While acknowledging that procurement could contribute to delays, Amutse said it was not the sole cause.

“Time is also lost in surveys, changing beneficiary lists, designs waiting for review, unsettled funding arrangements, and routine decisions moving through too many layers,” he said.

He urged implementing entities to prepare projects earlier and run activities in parallel, arguing that budget confirmation should trigger implementation rather than planning.

“An ordinary electrification procurement should not drift for six or nine months without a clear reason,” he said.

Amutse also criticised the separation of network construction from household connections, saying Government-funded projects should, unless technically justified otherwise, be designed to reach the intended customer.

“A pole cannot light a textbook. A transformer cannot keep food cold. A line passing a home is not the same as electricity inside that home,” he said.

He also raised concerns about the KfW-supported electrification programme, saying the funding had been available since 2022 but had not yet connected a household.

“A development partner can provide resources, but those resources become development only when a household receives a service,” Amutse said.