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Auxilia Katongomara, Chronicle Reporter
GOVERNMENT is targeting to electrify over 706 rural institutions at an estimated cost of $36 million through the Rural Electrification Fund (REF).

The REF was established through an Act of Parliament in 2002 resulting in the rolling out of the rural electrification programme targeting farms, villages, borehole, dam points and irrigation schemes.

More than 5 000 institutions have benefited from the project.

Presenting the 2018 National budget recently, Finance and Economic Development Minister, Patrick Chinamasa said the electrification of rural communities will be sustained through the Rural Electrification Fund.

“For the period January to September 2017, 192 projects were completed bringing the total coverage of targeted institutions since inception of the Fund in 2002 to 5 579.

This gives a performance of 63 percent when measured against the overall target of 8 878 institutions under the programme,” said Cde Chinamasa.

He said in 2018, $36, 5 million from the fund will target 706 rural institutions.

The Minister said the prepaid metering system will receive a major boost through the Customer Supplied Meter Scheme, where customers will buy prepaid meters from approved local agents.

@AuxiliaK