Accelerating Sustainable and Clean Energy Access Transformation in Zambia (WB-P507635)

Countries
  • Zambia
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • World Bank (WB)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
A
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Jul 24, 2025
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
Government of Zambia - Rural Electrification Authority
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Energy
  • Law and Government
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Grant
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 200.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 240.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ WB website

Updated in EWS Jun 1, 2025


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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the Bank’s website, the Program Development Objective (PDO) is to increase access to clean energy in rural areas of Zambia.

The Program Framework for the MPA seeks to implement the government strategic vision of increasing reliable electricity supply and expanding access to energy to spur inclusive economic growth. The MPA program framework creates the pathway for achievement of the vision. The MPA framework aligns with the government program for energy sector transformation in Zambia, built on four pillars namely, (i) Improved sector planning and optimized system expansion; (ii) Improved operation and financial performance of ZESCO and Rural Electrification Authority (REA); (iii) Increased access to electricity, and (iv) enabling environment for private sector participation.

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

Because of the significant geographic dispersion of the participating districts, different scales of proposed investments, the potential direct, indirect and cumulative environmental and social risks and impacts associated with many sub-projects in the Program, the capacity of REA, and gaps identified in the institutions responsible for managing environmental, social and health risks in the country, the overall ESHS risk of the Program is rated as Substantial.

The main environmental health and safety (EHS) risks and impacts will include: At construction phase; (i) Disturbance and loss of existing vegetation and potential impact to flora and fauna species (ii) potential solid and liquid waste generation from project activities; (iii) potential increased surface runoff during rainy season that could lead to erosion in areas with unprotected soil in neighbouring facilities; (iv) Land degradation impacts from sourcing of construction material from quarry and borrow pits for use in civil works (v) exposure of proximal community members to community health and safety risks; (vi) increased noise and air pollution (dust and emissions) from construction activities, water borne diseases, road and traffic safety; exposure of workers to occupational health and safety risks which include (vii) working at height; (viii) exposure to falling objects; noise and dust emissions; (ix) electrical hazards and chemical hazards associated welding flames; (x) exhaustion; and (xi) Ergonomics, repetitive motion, manual Handling. At operational and maintenance phase(i) equipment and machinery used could be a source of hazardous and noxious waste such as running engines, oil from leaking transformers, electronic waste, used engine oil and oil filters; and (ii)) community health and safety risks including structural stability of the installed energy equipment, and risks associated with electrical shocks, overcurrent and decoupling. (iii) Occupational health and safety risks including working at height and exposure to electrical hazards.

Social risks and impacts will include: i) the potential acquisition of wayleave and loss of land value along the wayleave due to usage restrictions; ii) potential exclusion of vulnerable households and individuals1 from Program benefits including consultations and electricity access due to their inability to pay for wiring and connection costs; iii) potential failure to institute differentiated treatment for vulnerable households from accessing project benefits; iv) potential disproportionate impact of potential tariff increases on the poor households; v) potential increase in Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, and Sexual Harassment (SEA-SH) cases due to influx of workers into sub-project areas; vi) risk of illegal and unsafe connections, resulting in increased exposure to electrical accidents; vii) limited stakeholder engagements and disclosure of program information presenting risks of increased grievances.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

IDA Grant: US$ 200.00 million

OPEC FUND: US$ 30.00 million

SWEDEN: Swedish Intl. Dev. Cooperation Agency (SIDA): US$ 10.00 million


Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

No contacts available at the time of disclosure.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

To submit an information request for project information, you will have to create an account to access the Access to Information request form. You can learn more about this process at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/access-to-information/request-submission

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF THE WORLD BANK

The World Bank Inspection Panel is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by a World Bank-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the Inspection Panel, they may investigate to assess whether the World Bank is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. You can contact the Inspection Panel or submit a complaint by emailing ipanel@worldbank.org. Information on how to file a complaint and a complaint request form are available at: https://www.inspectionpanel.org/how-to-file-complaint

How it works

How it works