LUSAKA, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Zambian government has approved a five-year plan to gradually raise electricity prices to attract more private investment in power generation, Minister of Finance and National Planning Situmbeko Musokotwane said on Friday.
He said the current rates are not attractive to allow private investment in the sector.
"For us to attract the private sector into electricity generation, the price of electricity has to increase," Musokotwane said. "If we don't do that I am afraid we are going to have serious electricity shortages in this country."
"There is no other option. There is no other choice. Doing nothing is not an answer because we know that in the next five years we are going to have serious electricity shortages and we don't want to go that route," he told a government meeting to review the 2022 economic performance and the 2023 budget execution.
He said many private companies are willing to invest in electricity generation if the country provides a price favorable for them to make profit.
The government wants to attract more investment in electricity generation because the state power utility, Zesco, cannot meet the anticipated rise in demand, he said. ■
