In Togo, the cost of energy and communications since the 1990s, as well as market weakness and limited access to funding, are serious obstacles to the growth of towns and cities and to the country’s structural transformation. These constraints, which must be removed, stem mostly from a land tenure system that has failed to adapt over the past half-century to the growth of urban areas and market demands. Most of the clean electricity produced in Togo comes from thermal technologies, but Togo also has two hydroelectric plants (The Nangbeto Dam of 65 MW and Kpime hydroelectric power plant of 16 MW). Two third of the Togolese population live in rural areas and consume less than 10% of the country's electricity. To encourage a balanced development of the country and to improve the living conditions of both the urban and rural populations, the new energy policy guidelines must focus on the development of renewable energy sources (solar, wind, biogas and hydropower systems). Each of these energy sources has greater or lesser energy potential, but as of yet all of them are largely unexploited.

1. 1
TO BETTER ELECTRIFY TOGO
This article is a part of course works related to World Bank Group Massive Open Online Course on
Financing For Development - Unlocking Investment Opportunities. This course has been an eye opener for
me as an engineer to realise better the magnitude of importance related what I do in my line of work. For
this final project, the course participants are expected to choose a fragile country to promote and to voice
what the country needs to be further developed and established to achieve a more sustainable future.
The reason for me to choose Togo is that I am currently the Resident Engineer for the execution of an 188
km, 225 kV overhead power line and a ten hectares 330/225 kV substation for an interconnection project
between Ghana and Burkina Faso which are financed by the World Bank and AFD and both these countries
(Ghana and Burkina Faso) border with Togo. In this framework, last year I paid a visit to Togo and I was
overwhelmed by this country’s needs and at the same time possibilities for progress, growth and
development, and by its people eagerness to achieve them. The World Bank says around 72 percent of
people in Togo live with less than $2 per day.
The World Bank's 2015 “Doing Business” ranking showed
Togo rose by 15 places from the previous year to 149,
one of the top 10 risers. This puts it well above regional
major power Nigeria and on a par with Ivory Coast and
Benin, although neighbor Ghana remains far ahead.
Economic growth in Togo, 5.5 percent last year, is
expected to rise towards 6 percent over the next two
years. The last few years Togo has made some significant
initial economic successes such as the construction of a
new airport terminal and especially a new port which
Togo sees as port serving not only its own needs and
those of landlocked Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso but
also the rest of the Gulf of Guinea since at 15.5 meters
deep, it has the capacity to berth ships carrying as many
as 7,000 containers.
Better security in Togo has lured some shipping away
from Benin and Nigeria, whose shores are threatened
by pirates, and in the capital, new roads, neat lines of
lamp posts and mushrooming buildings are signs of
investment. The road linking Togo to Ghana to the west
and Benin to the east is smooth and bustling, but away
from main arteries, however, roads are eaten up by
potholes and residents sell food at stalls next to piles of
debris. The figure on the right shows a typical food stall
we can find in Togo.
(a) Map of Togo
(b) Food stalls

2. 2
The cost of energy and communications since the 1990s, as well as market weakness and limited access to
funding, are serious obstacles to the growth of towns and cities and to the country’s structural
transformation. These constraints, which must be removed, stem mostly from a land tenure system that
has failed to adapt over the past half-century to the growth of urban areas and market demands.
Most of the clean electricity produced in Togo
comes from thermal technologies, but Togo
also has two hydroelectric plants (The
Nangbeto Dam of 65 MW and Kpime
hydroelectric power plant of 16 MW). Two
third of the Togolese population live in rural
areas and consume less than 10% of the
country's electricity. To encourage a balanced
development of the country and to improve
the living conditions of both the urban and
rural populations, the new energy policy
guidelines must focus on the development of
renewable energy sources (solar, wind, biogas and hydropower systems). Each of these energy sources has
greater or lesser energy potential, but as of yet all of them are largely unexploited.
The path of development that Togo has to fix to ensure that other areas can follow suit is the energy sector
with particular attention to:
1. The exploitation of renewable energy sources
and in particular in solar, wind and bagasse as
viable sources to offset the costly polluting fossil
fuel use.
2. The construction of small hydroelectric power
plants will generate low-cost electricity not only
by using minor sources that will respond to local
needs, but combined with a better organized and
improved national gridwill contribute to its better
use/distribution at national level.
3. Giving incentives to industries and
private enterprises that have already
invested in the energy sector for their own
needs (but with generators that use high cost
fossil fuel) enabling them to invest in
renewable energy as well. Figure on the left
shows typical textile industry that will greatly
benefit from more accessible electricity.
(c) Nangbeto dam
(d) Example of Wind Farm
(e) Example of Textile Industry

3. 3
The government has to leverage development assistance and interest in renewable energy to bring in
additional financial resources by:
1. Offering incentives in order to promote the private capital and private investors such as banks and
pension funds to invest into public-private structures and foreign creditors financing public projects by
lowering the withholding tax. This may demand changes in legislation by the government.
2. Ensuring a stronger, qualified and transparent administration, simple and efficient tax and revenue
systems, and better coordination to address international tax issues and illicit finances, and
3. Improving the efficiency of the public corporates and the public expenses and the social spending: this
last one especially has to be combined with better targeting.
Aspects of sector reform and institution-building that should be prioritized:
1. Implement energy policies that will make production of renewable energy a priority.
2. Strengthen and increase the efficiency of the National Electrical Energy Company (CEET).
3. Improving metering, billing and disbursements and find ways to enforce a system that make these
work.
4. Ensure that public institutions responsible for the power sector personnel is hired in a transparent
process and receives a suitable training that will enable them to design and implement/monitor all
energy policies.
References:
Actualvisit in Togoin September 2016;
Various Core Readingsfrom Financing For Development – Unlocking Investment Opportunities (F4D01x
of WBG, March2017) ;
InternationalFinance Corporation, and World Bank. Doing Business: Measuring business regulations.
2005. Archived Web Site. Retrievedfrom the Library of Congress,
https://www.loc.gov/item/lcwa00095490/;
Various information from Compagnie EnergieElectrique du Togo(http://www.ceet.tg);
Figure (a): Wikimedia Commons;
Figures (b) and (c) : https://freewheely.com/2013/10/togo/
Figure (d): Credit: GraceWu/Berkeley Lab (https://www.sciencedaily.com/)
Figure (e): http://www.dw.com/en/african-textile-industry-on-hold/a-16127770