The Minister for Energy and Minerals, Professor Sospeter Muhongo, unveiled his ministry’s key projects towards the new initiative to achieve “Big Results Now”, saying the target was to increase units per person to 490 by 2025 from the current 97.
The Minister of Energy and Minerals, Prof. Sospeter Muhongo
Prof Muhongo laid bare the projects at a public workshop in Dar es Salaam organised to explain key priority projects under the ministry in which various officials pledged action and results, promising to resign in case of failure to deliver to expectations.
The colourful event, which participants described as the first of its kind, was attended by hundreds of people from all walks of life who were also given chance to ask questions and offer suggestions.
The minister noted that the country also envisages lifting the percentage of electricity users in the country from the current 21 per cent to 56 in 2025.
“To start with, we want to make sure that at least 30 per cent of people get connected by 2015 and increase unit per person from the current 97 to 236 units in the same period,” he said. Prof Muhongo told his audience that to achieve the 2025 middle income target; the ministry will focus on natural gas, coal and renewable energies such as wind, solar and geothermal as sources of energy to check the over-dependency on hydro power.
“Our target is to be the East African giant in electricity generation and be able to turn electricity into a commodity that we can sale abroad,” he quipped. The minister emphasised on the need to construct the Mtwara-Dar es Salaam natural gas pipeline, warning those who have been instigating chaos on the same to stop it.
“The 538-kilometre pipeline must be constructed because there is nowhere in the world with gas and yet there is no pipeline. In future, we will distribute pipes to Tanga, Arusha and even Mwanza,” he said.
He named the key projects as including Kinyerezi One (150MW), Kinyerezi Two (240MW), Kinyerezi Three (300MW), Kinyerezi Four (300MW), Singida Wind Power (50MW), Kilwa Energy (210MW) and Kiwira (200MW).
He named transmission lines to be built as including Iringa-Shinyanga 637kilometres (400KV), Dar es Salaam, Chalinze, Tanga, Same to Arusha 682KM (400KV), Somanga Fungu- Kinyerezi 203KM (220KV). Others include Nyakanazi, Kigoma, Mpanda, Sumbawanga to Mbeya 340KM (400KV) and Dar es Salaam, Morogoro to Dodoma 530KM (400KV).
The Acting Managing Director of the Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (TANESCO), Mr Felchesmi Mramba, noted that five new substations will be constructed in Dar es Salaam.
“We want to make sure that electricity availability in Dar es Salaam improves tremendously and that is why we have decided to add five substations to the existing five, which have been there since independence, he said.
Mr Mramba noted that four out of the five sub-stations will be ready by end of next year, adding that the unreliability of electricity in the city will be the tale of the past. He added that Tanesco has been reformed and that since mid-last year, 47 company workers have been axed for negligence.
The ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mr Eliakim Maswi, said his office would act tough on any official who will fail to meet targets set at his or her area of work. “All DGs and CEOs in the companies and agencies under my ministry have signed a contract that they will deliver to expectations and that they will resign upon failure to deliver,” he said.
The President Delivery Bureau (PDB) Chief Executive Officer, Mr Omari Issa, assured the ministry of massive support from his office in ensuring that the “Big Result Now” initiative becomes a reality.
“It is only with reliable and less expensive electricity in the country that we can be assured of smooth operation of small and medium enterprises and eventually smooth growth of the economy,” Mr Issa observed.
He emphasised the role of the private sector in making the dream come true, giving an example of numerous private telephone companies in the country that have brought a major revolution in the telecommunication sector.
By ABDULWAKIL SAIBOKO, Tanzania Daily News
