The most important developments in sub-Saharan Africa. Six days a week.
Burundi signed a 25-year, $1.4 billion partnership on 15 October handing electricity distribution in about half the country to Weza Power, part of the American-backed Anzana Electric Group. The company plans to build or upgrade 52,000 kilometres of lines and connect over 1.2 million homes and businesses, reaching about eight million people by 2030. Only an estimated 12–20% of Burundians have grid power; the state utility REGIDESO keeps transmission and distribution in the other half. Development lenders including the World Bank and the US International Development Finance Corporation are financing the deal, which its backers say adds nothing to public debt while putting half of one of Africa's least-electrified grids under private operation.
Angolan and Namibian ministers met in Luanda on 16 October to prepare the start of construction of the Baynes hydropower dam on the Cunene River. A project unit and its financial advisers have drafted a funding strategy for both governments to consider; the African Development Bank and the Southern African Power Pool back the project. Namibia's cabinet chose public funding in July 2024 and approved an implementation agreement with Angola that November, putting the cost at $1.3 billion; Angola's state news agency now cites about $1.5 billion for the 860-megawatt plant, excluding power lines. The dam would give import-dependent Namibia a large new source of supply. No financing package or construction date has been set.
