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Improve infrastructure for better service delivery
a bank to increase the productivity of needy families (including households with members living with a handicap) and low-income households and integrate them into the society.
Chad needs to both build and maintain key energy, water, transport, and telecommunications infrastructure to improve access to basic services. A strategic and holistic approach to infrastructure development is needed to improve the efficiency of public service delivery, including in marginalized areas. Chad needs to find a sustainable way to finance new and maintain existing infrastructure. The authorities should focus on improving the management and oversight of SOEs to ensure effective and efficient service delivery and that they contribute effectively to infrastructure development.7 This reform will require the contribution of the private sector, and the government may need to rely on public-private partnerships to improve the quality of public service delivery. Regardless, the authorities need to focus on the quality of infrastructure in terms of metrology, standardization, and conformity, as well as how to make investments resilient to evolving climate impacts. Priority should be given to energy and transport infrastructure in the short to medium terms.
Reforming the energy sector to improve access
Chad’s energy sector is facing two major related challenges: inadequate access to electricity and an inefficient supply of electricity.
Significantly increasing access to electricity would require massive efforts to increase power generation and import/export capacity, extend and strengthen the transmission and distribution power grid, and deploy off-grid solutions at scale. Given the time required to implement on-grid electrification, the nascent state of the national power grid (which is limited to the capital city of N’Djamena), and the low population density in rural areas that accommodate nearly three-fourths of the country’s population, mini-grids and stand-alone solar systems (SSS) are poised to play a significant role in providing access to electricity through 2030. Mini-grids will need to be implemented in secondary cities, and SSS will be needed in rural and peripheral areas to provide electricity access to productive uses, public entities, and households. Mini-grid and SSS solutions can be deployed relatively quickly and can function as pre-electrification in locations that will be connected to the national power grid. Integral attention also needs to be paid to customer services and the inclusion of marginalized groups. The national grid is expected to reach some scale in the second part of this decade, supported by the construction of the high-voltage transmission line connecting the power systems of Chad and Cameroon under the World Bank–supported Cameroon-Chad Power Interconnection Project.
Ensuring the efficiency of the electricity supply is a key prerequisite for making the electricity sector sustainable, ensuring a reliable electricity supply, and increasing electricity access. The electricity supply in N’Djamena and a dozen secondary cities, which is served by small mini-grids, has been inefficient due the high cost of generation, large commercial losses, low payment collection,
loss-making tariffs, and poor operational performance. A reform program to address these issues will need to include the following measures:
• Reducing the cost of power generation by (a) switching from diesel to heavy fuel oil in existing thermal plants owned by the national power utility Société
Nationale d’Electricité (SNE) and independent power producers; (b) procuring new generation capacity through competitive and transparent tenders; (c) using petroleum gas, which is currently flared, for power generation; (d) increasing the share of cost-effective renewable solar energy and storage while optimizing dispatching; and (e) importing competitively priced electricity. • Reducing inefficiencies in the distribution and sale of electricity by implementing a revenue protection program to address commercial losses and improve payment collections. • Enhancing the governance of SNE by implementing a performance contract between the government and SNE. The contract would specify (a) SNE’s services and operational indicators, (b) the level of public subsidies needed if tariffs fail to cover costs, and (c) government obligations for the payment of electricity bills by public and parastatal entities.8 • Developing further a legal and regulatory framework to (a) create the foundation for the financially viable operation of SNE and mini-grids operated by the private sector by establishing cost-reflective tariffs and (b) promote private sector participation, which is hampered by SNE’s chronic loss-making operations and its deficient legal status (especially in terms of the ownership of energy assets).
The objective of the engagement of the World Bank Group in the energy sector in the coming years should include (a) boosting energy access, (b) enhancing the governance of the sector governance, (c) diversifying the energy mix to reduce cost and emissions, and (d) improving the operational and financial viability of the national power utility (SNE) (table 4.1).
To improve the country’s transport infrastructure and logistics services, the authorities should consider the following:
• Addressing the country’s poor transport infrastructure and service delivery to connect marginalized areas and population groups. This reform can be done by (a) developing multimodal corridor networks, (b) improving trade and border-crossing services, and (c) improving operational and institutional effectiveness. The first two priorities can be addressed through regional integration investment programs financed by the government, with support from donors. • Focusing on road asset management to improve operational and institutional effectiveness. Chad faces challenges in meeting the required financial and technical requirements to maintain its road network. To address these challenges, the authorities first need access to dedicated and secured resources for road maintenance. The Road Fund has shrunk over the past five years due to fiscal constraints. To ensure the Road Fund is properly funded, and to restore donor confidence in the government’s ability to maintain transport investments, the authorities need to review the governance of the Road Fund and adopt rules to ensure its proper functioning and accountability.
