One of the biggest public surveys yet organised in Solomon Islands will give the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification (MMERE) vital information for national energy planning.
Working with the UN Development Programme (UNDP), MMERE will shortly begin seeking information from individuals, communities and businesses around the country about their electricity use and needs.
The survey answers will give a full picture of who has access to electricity, how that electricity is used and how people would take advantage of better access to affordable, sustainable power.
MMERE Minister Hon Derrick Manuari says improving access to and affordability of electricity is a central platform of the GNUT administration and key to improving the lives of Solomon Islanders.
“Good planning is critical to building electricity infrastructure and policies that work for Solomon Islanders, and this survey will give us the information we need to shape the process,” Hon Manuari says.
“I ask anyone with an interest in the future of the nation’s electricity network – and that means everybody – to respond so they can have a say in this vital part of the nation’s development.”
The survey, which is designed and hosted by UNDP, is based on graphics and can be completed quickly. It will be distributed by a mixture of SMS messaging, social media posts and QR codes. Respondents can reply for themselves, their household or their community, and everyone who contributes will go in the draw to win mobile phones.
Survey links will be available over coming weeks by Telekom ‘blast’ SMS messages, the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology (MECDM) Facebook page and QR codes on posters around Honiara. The organisers hope to gain responses from at least 100,000 people.
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