The joint World Bank and African Development Bank “Mission 300” initiative emphasizes investments in energy generation, transmission, distribution, regional interconnection, and sector reforms.
Monrovia, January 15, 2025: Liberia has been selected as one of 15 African countries to benefit from the World Bank’s and African Development Bank’s joint initiative, “Mission 300.”
The program aims to provide affordable, reliable, and sustainable electricity access to over 300 million Africans by 2030.
It seeks to accelerate electrification in Sub-Saharan Africa by promoting diversified, cleaner energy sources to meet growing demand, foster economic growth, and create jobs.
The initiative emphasizes investments in energy generation, transmission, distribution, regional interconnection, and sector reforms to ensure reliable and affordable power supply across Africa.
As part of the program, each participating country will develop an “energy compact,” a detailed plan outlining their strategies to increase and improve electricity access in various countries.
In Western and Central Africa, Liberia joins Sierra Leone, Togo, and Chad as beneficiaries, focusing on increasing renewable energy capacity to deliver cheaper, grid-connected electricity to millions of consumers in Africa.
On Tuesday, Liberia’s Finance Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan addressed a press conference providing updates on the program.
He disclosed that President Joseph Boakai and delegates from the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC), Rural Electrification Agency, and private sector representatives will travel to Tanzania in February 2025 to attend the Summit.
He added that the summit will bring together leaders of the 15 selected countries to commit to concrete reforms and plans to attract public and private investments in energy access.
“President Boakai and the delegation will present Liberia’s energy compact, which outlines how we plan to significantly increase electricity generation, distribution, and transmission from the current 33% to between 80% and 95% by 2030,” Minister Ngafuan stated.
Highlighting recent developments, Ngafuan mentioned the World Bank Vice President for West and Central Africa, Ousman Diagana, and the Delegation visiting Liberia recently.
According to him, the delegation visited the 90-megawatt solar plant for which President Joseph Nyuma Boakai broke ground a few months ago.
He pointed out that they are also considering potential investments in projects such as the St. Paul River hydropower plant to expand the nation’s energy infrastructure further.
“So why are we on this path of development? We did not say that there will be no challenges and that we will not have the situation,” Minister Ngafuan said.
With the support of programs like Mission 300, he noted that the government is confident in achieving its energy goals and driving economic growth.
