Tanzania President John Magufuli has directed the Ministry of Energy and Minerals to speed up the construction of a Liquefied Natural Gas project in Lindi Region. The plant project will cost US$30bn.
Speaking at State House in Dar es Salaam after he was handed the progress report of the Liquefied Natural Gas project Magufuli urged that construction of the project commence.
Oystein Michelsen, Statoil Country Representative from the Norwegian Company, presented the plant project report to the Tanzanian President. In his presentation, Michelsen insisted that, once the construction of the envisaged gas plant project is completed, production will continue for a period of not less than 40 years.
According to Oystein Michelsen, the Norwegian government is fully committed to ensuring that implementation of the project is done for the benefits of the two countries. He urged the Tanzanian government to offer its full support towards achieving constructing the plant.
Not long ago, Tanzania discovered additional 2.17 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of possible natural gas deposits raising the East African nation’s total estimated natural gas reserves to more than 57tcf. However, most of the discovered gas in Tanzania is made in deep-sea offshore blocks south of the country near the site of a planned liquefied natural gas project.
Professor Sospeter Muhongo, the Minister for Energy and Minerals speaking during the official launch of the Nanenane exhibitions at Ngongo Grounds in Lindi Municipality, has revealed that the government had already embarked on the grand project plan whereby Lindi residents and Tanzanians at large have been informed of economic revolution expectation in few years to come.
Professor Muhongo, is optimistic that the nation’s economy is going to grow at a high speed and that at least US$30bn will be invested towards the construction of the gas processing plant. Nonetheless, the public has be requested to keep calm as the government continues to conclude the grand project plans.
It is speculated that, the project will likely take many years due to the huge amount of money that will be needed to put up the plant. High skilled and experienced personnel will also be of significance to the project as well as good supervision. Additionally, the government will be required to construct about 200km of gas pipes from the sea to the plant, a task estimated to take years to complete.
The project is expected create room for employment opportunities to Tanzanians as well as enabling the government to collect revenue through various forms of taxes which will help in strengthening provision of social services including water, health, education and infrastructure among others.
Besides, Statoil, Mobil, Pavillion, Exxon, Ophir and Shell are among the companies that will invest in the project.Energy in Africa has been cited as a major economic catalyst for the continent.