February 24, 2017
Eritrea’s Local Media Interview with President Isaias Afwerki
Mr. President, best wishes to you and to our readers on the occasion of the New Year. What are the key GOE development plans for this year?
First and foremost I would like to convey my best wishes, even if somewhat belated, for the New Year to the Eritrean people at home and abroad.
Energy has for long remained a priority development program for the government. Indeed, electricity supply constituted the biggest challenge facing the nation’s development plans from the outset. The Hirgigo power plant was thus constructed almost immediately after independence early in the 1990s to catalyze sectorial developmental plans. For a variety of reasons, including timely maintenance failures, the status of the energy sector and electricity supply in the past few years have been dismal.
The main priority now is to embark on sustainable expansion of energy services. This will require both the development of new supplies and more efficient utilization of current energy resources.
