Madagascar's electricity sector: the World Bank calls the authorities to account

The headquarters of Jirama, the public water and electricity company.

© RFI / L. Bezain

Text by: RFI Follow

3 min

The World Bank, which has been funding a project to improve the functioning of the electricity sector on the Big Island since 2016, asks the Malagasy state to reimburse and justify a little more than $ 1.7 million of ineligible expenses. to this project, undertaken by Jirama, the public electricity and water distribution company.

Another setback for this national company, over-indebted and repeatedly singled out in cases of embezzlement or favoritism.

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With our correspondent in Antananarivo,

Laetitia Bezain

It is in a letter addressed to the Madagascan Minister of Economy and Finance that the Country Director of the World Bank announces the amount of “ 

anomalies

 ” noted by an external audit.

A letter, dated November 16, which leaked on social networks.

Theoretical acquisitions, work not carried out or equipment used outside of the World Bank's Electricity Sector Operations Management Improvement Project.

These are the 

“ineligible expenses” 

undertaken by the electricity distribution company in 2018 and 2019 noted in this letter.

A project which aims, in particular, to increase the capacity of the electricity sector in a country where only 17% of the inhabitants have access to it and to improve the management of Jirama, the public company that distributes it.

A company that has been criticized for years for its poor service by Malagasy households, which suffer from daily power cuts. 

Contacted, the Minister of Energy and Hydrocarbons, Andry Ramaroson, evokes " 

a first case concerning computer equipment lost inside or outside the Jirama".

"The second file concerns a service provider and the third concerns work that we have done that was not foreseen in the World Bank project," he 

explains.

Minister for three months, the latter explains " 

that he has undertaken to clean up the Jirama and that these anomalies relate to the financial years of 2018 and 2019" "

 Have there been any thefts or diversions within the Jirama?

 "It is not excluded,"

 he continues. 

One thing is certain, is that there is a lot of carelessness.

When we do not put enough rigor in the way we manage funds, we inevitably end up in this kind of situation.

We continue to clean up the Jirama because otherwise we will not be able to get out of it, ” 

he admits. 

► See also Madagascar: corruption in the electricity sector at the heart of an investigation

In its letter, the World Bank requests repayment of just over $ 630,000 by December 3.

A sum that the public company wishes - despite its over-indebtedness - to repay without state aid, said the Minister of Energy. 

“We are in the process of restructuring the debts of Jirama.

I don't think it's possible by December 3, but I think it would be possible to repay during the month of December.

We will try to negotiate with the World Bank.

Our relations with the World Bank are currently good, except that we cannot move on to other commitments without cleaning up what has already been done before, ”he 

indicates. 

See also Energy in Madagascar: the Jirama, a "time bomb" according to a study

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  • Madagascar

  • world Bank