AN entrepreneur dealing in installation of solar energy has appealed to the ministry of Energy and Water Development to create a credit fund to assist local firms take solar power to rural areas.

Proprietor of Sun Solar Systems, Henry Mwape said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that there was a lot of potential for solar energy in Zambia, especially among rural farming areas.

Mr Mwape said his company, like the other indigenous solar installing firms, was disadvantaged because of lack of support from the Government.

"There is so much potential for solar power because we have sufficient sunshine in Zambia.

It's just a question of sourcing the equipment for installing the solar panels, batteries and lighting," he said.

He said as small entrepreneurs, they were failing to stock the required equipment because of lack of capital.

"If the Government could create the fund so that they would be borrowing from the facility when they have orders, and that the fund would be a revolving service.

"It hasn't been easy because we have been failing to get hold of the micro-financing facilities," he said.

Mr Mwape charged that the Government and the Micro-Project Unit (MPU) and the Zambia Social Investment Fund (ZAMSIF) had been contracting foreign companies to install solar in various parts of the country, leaving out Zambian entrepreneurs.

"They tend to favour foreign companies when awarding tenders, even if ZAMSIF claims that they do not understand the tendering system.

"But when they give chance to the foreigners there is no back-up facility, so they get back to us," he said.

He boasted that he had a wealth of experience in solar power installation, having worked as a solar engineer for the landmark BP Zambia Solar Project that installed over 200 panels in rural health centres across Zambia.

His company had lately been contracted by World Vision Zambia to undertake some projects in Solwezi and Choma, which it successfully executed.

Mr Mwape said solar energy was not only cheap but ideal for rural areas, especially the farming communities, as the Government tried to make agriculture the cornerstone of the economy.