Maputo, July 20, 2025 (Lusa) - In Mwamatibjana, on the outskirts of Maputo, Aurélio calculates his future as he looks at the last electricity pole that will bring electricity to his home, while the president of the World Bank, which is financing these operations, knocks on his door.
“They are seeing [television] for the first time, I usually show it to them on my phone. So, with television, they’ll see a lot,” he begins by telling Lusa, about the expectations of his four children with the arrival of electricity in the house where he has lived for 14 years, in the municipality of Matola, on the outskirts of the Mozambican capital.
Unemployed and aged 38, Aurélio Arlindo expects electricity to arrive at the small brick house where six people live within days. He is already thinking of setting up a small business there, serving cold drinks to people passing through the neighbourhood, an area of Maputo that is undergoing expansion.
“It’s really coming, I’m really enjoying it. It will help me. I’ve already done the installation, I’m just waiting,” he says, pointing to the pole and the cables ready to connect the house, in the middle of the Mwamatibjana neighbourhood, where the last measurement placed electricity one kilometre away.
With the business poised to begin operations and the community relying on alternative power for several days, Arlindo nervously welcomes the president of the World Bank (WB), Ajay Banga, who is in Maputo to focus on the energy projects that the group is financing in Mozambique, which have already increased the coverage rate from 31% of the population in 2018 to 60% in 2024.
“I think that’s the power of electricity. It goes beyond turning it on at that moment to teach a child; it also brings growth and opportunity,” said Ajay Banga after visiting projects on the outskirts of Maputo that have changed the lives of communities, families, businesses and small entrepreneurs with the arrival of energy.
This means that in six years, 9.5 million Mozambicans will have access to electricity for the first time under the government’s Energy for All programme, which has made Mozambique one of the fastest-growing countries in sub-Saharan Africa in terms of electrification, according to the World Bank.
In addition to Aurélio Arlindo, Ajay Banga, who is ending a two-day visit to Mozambique today, met entrepreneur Hermínio Guambe. The recent arrival of electricity in the Siduava neighbourhood enabled him to establish his pharmacy business and, next door, a beauty salon, while already preparing for future growth.
“With electrification, he has been able to keep medicines at the right temperature and therefore provide a much better experience […]. Now he is already preparing something for the upper floor,” joked Banga, after a long conversation with Aurélio, asking for details of the business and offering advice.
In an area that has had access to electricity for 30 years, also on the outskirts of Maputo, the WB president visited and highlighted the case of the Nacional brand, which processes and distributes Mozambican chicken throughout the country, with a market share of 30%, depending on thousands of farmers in various provinces, in addition to 450 jobs in this unit.
“These are the kinds of things that we at the World Bank should be doing. Helping people like him [the Nacional administrator], helping small farmers through him,” said Banga, adding: “And I think that our job goes beyond electrification; it’s what electricity enables. And that is job creation and the creation of a middle class.” And that’s what I’m interested in.”
Mozambique plans to bring electricity to an additional 600,000 homes this year, surpassing the 563,000 connections made in 2024, according to government forecasts. According to the latest update from Eletricidade de Moçambique (EDM), in the first quarter of 2025 alone, Eletricidade de Moçambique completed 90,000 new connections to the electricity grid in the country, already double the target set for the same period.
In March, the World Bank approved $100 million (€86 million) in financing, in addition to $31 million (€26.6 million) from Norway and Sweden, for the third phase of the programme to provide access to electricity for the Mozambican population, with a further 146,000 connections planned.
‘This funding will accelerate ongoing initiatives to ensure universal access to electricity by 2030, directly benefiting around 700,000 people,’ explained EDM.
This involves funding for the “Ascent” project – Accelerating the Transformation of Access to Clean and Sustainable Energy, a new phase of the “Energy for All” programme. The International Development Association (IDA), part of the World Bank Group, will provide this funding in collaboration with the Government of Mozambique, according to the state-owned electricity company.
PVJ/ADB // ADB.
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