11 November 2013, Dar es Salaam – The 542-km gas pipeline from Mtwara to Dar es Salaam and the 150MW gas fired power plant at Kinyerezi 1 will be commissioned in December, next year as scheduled.
Execution of the mega projects will go a long way towards boosting power generation and solve electricity shortages, according to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Minerals, Mr Eliakim Maswi.
“Not only will the projects ease shortages but they will also help the country to save money it has been spending to operate costly diesel-fired power plants,” Mr Maswi said over the weekend.
The government has in the past been pumping between 900bn/- and 1.2tri/- annually to the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) to purchase oil to run power plants at Tegeta and Ubungo.
The PS made a three-day tour along the pipeline’s route together with representatives of development partners, including the World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
“At present, natural gas accounts for between 40-45 per cent of power generation in the country but the rate will increase to about 80 per cent when the projects are completed,” Tanesco’s Managing Director Felchesmi Mramba said.
Through a loan of 1.9tri/- from Exim Bank of China, Tanzania is implementing the mega pipeline project that will also include construction of gas processing plants at Madimba in Mtwara and Songo Songo Island in Lindi. It will also include two power plants at Kinyerezi with capacities of generating 150MW and 240MW, respectively.
“The Kinyerezi 1 will be completed by August, next year while Kinyerezi 2 will be completed in one and half years,” Mr Maswi said.
The processing plant at Madimba will have a capacity to process 200 million standard cubic feet (mscf) and it will have provisions which would allow the capacity be upgraded to 600 mscf while the pipeline will have a capacity to transport 780 mscf per day.
An existing 16-inch natural gas pipeline from Songo Songo to Dar es Salaam, which is owned by Pan African Energy has been facing capacity constraints amid growing energy demand in the country.
The new pipeline will include 36-inch pipes in a distance of 512km on land as well as 30km of 24-inch concretecoated pipe to run through the Indian Ocean from Songo songo Island to Somanga area in Lindi region.
“As we speak, 142-km long pipes have been joined through wielding and we expect to finish laying the pipeline by July next year,” the Project Quality Manager, Mr Pieter Erasmus, said.
– Tanzania Daily News
