Al-Herbish made the suggestion on Wednesday in Abuja while briefing reporters on the outcome of a two-day workshop organized by OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) on “’Energy Poverty in Africa.”

He attributed the poor and unstable power in the continent to lack of political will, wars and conflicts.

He blamed the situation on poor pricing policies, energy trade rules, cross-border risks, regional integration an unattractive atmosphere for private business development.

Al-Herbish was quoted as saying the need to develop large-scale trans-border projects such as high voltage lines, pipelines and hydropower in multinational basins had become necessary to address the energy problems.

“Power is capital intensiveness and the power sector requires that both the public and the private sector should be involved.”

“The private sector is part of the solution with a public sector taking the initiative and the lead by developing an enabling environment based on continuous policies,” he said.

He added that there was need to improve efficiency and the governance of the state-owned power utilities by appropriate investments and capacity building in order to avoid economic burden. (Xinuha)