Making Africa's power sector sustainable : an analysis of power sector reforms in Africa

Abstract

The biggest challenge facing sub-Saharan African countries today is to reach a sustainable rate of positive economic growth that will enable them to cope with soaring demographic and urban growth. In a bid to stimulate a genuine dynamic of development and to rise above the economic, social, political, and environmental crises that have beset the region more or less permanently since the late 1970s, the countries of the region together with the support of multilateral institutions introduced several sectoral reforms. Among these reforms are those related to the power sub-sector, which were, as analysed by energy experts, aimed at improving financial and technical efficiency of utilities, facilitating divestiture and guaranteeing future electricity supply in an open globalised energy market.