After the global Smart Partnership Dialogues meeting that held in Dar es Salaam and the visit of US president Barack Obama to Tanzania recently, the Minister for Energy and Minerals, Professor Sospeter Muhongo now wants his ministry to achieve what he calls “Big Results Now”, saying the target intention is to increase units per person to 490 by 2025 from the current 97.
US President Obama listens to the Minister for Ernegy and Minerals, Prof. Sospeter Muhongo.
Prof. Muhongo laid bare the projects at a public workshop in Dar es Salaam recently organized to explain key priority projects under the ministry in which various officials have strongly pledged action and results, promising to resign in case of failure to deliver to expectations.
The colourful event was attended by hundreds of people from all walks of life who were also given chance to ask questions and offer suggestions on how Tanzania could further benefit from gas and mineral sector. 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 says 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, adding that there was an urgent need to construct the Mtwara-Dar es Salaam natural gas pipeline, warning those who have been instigating chaos on the same to stop the plans with immediate effect.
“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, notes 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 says.
Mr Mramba notes that four out of the five substations 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, says that 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 says. The President Delivery Bureau (PDB) Chief Executive Officer, Mr Omari Issa has 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.
The government’s power generation mix focuses on generating power from natural gas, coal, hydropower and renewable energy sources. Recent oil and gas finds in the country are expected to turn Tanzania into a hydrocarbons exporter.
The government has already put in place new legislation that shall regulate natural gas during 2013/14 and this will come after the adoption of the natural gas policy. The Ministry of Energy and Minerals is mandated to facilitate development of energy and mineral sectors in Tanzania through policies and plans for sustainable use.
Energy and Minerals resources play an important role in poverty reduction and in supporting socioeconomic development in Tanzania. The Ministry is mandated to facilitate development of energy and mineral sectors and it also delivers various services related to development of energy and minerals resources through the participation of various stakeholders including public, private, public-private partnerships, local communities, NGOs and civil society.
The ministry sets policies, strategies and laws for sustainability of energy and minerals resources to enhance growth and development of the economy. It also focuses on being an effective institution that contributes significantly to the acceleration of socioeconomic development through sustainable development and utilisation of energy and mineral resources in Tanzania by 2025.
At least 30 per cent of the country’s over 44 million people should access reliable and affordable power supply by 2015, says Prof. Muhongo. When he met the United States Ambassador to Tanzania Mr Alfonso Lenhardt, Prof. Muhongo said his ministry was targeting to have 30 per cent of the population getting electricity in the next two years.
Defining his strategy in ensuring that his ambition of supplying 30 per cent of the population is realised by 2015, the minister says he is working closely with TANESCO, Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) and National Development Corporation (NDC). “I want to bring together all the key players under the ministry instead of working as fragmented institutions as is the case now,” Prof. Muhongo says.
By DEOGRATIAS MUSHI, Tanzania Daily News
