MTWARA GAS: No need of panicking over natural gas, says Muhongo

Friday, 04 January 2013

By Frank Kimboy & Ludger Kasumuni The Citizen Reporters Dar es Salaam. Mtwara and Lindi regions residents have been assured that they will benefit from natural gas both for domestic and commercial purposes but the 532-kilometre long pipeline to Dar es Salaam must be completed first. Energy and Minerals minister Sospeter Muhongo made the assurance through press release published yesterday, saying it was possible to have outlets jutting out of the main pipeline. Prof Muhongo said the tie-off to make this possible will be put in Mtwara, Lindi, Kilwa and Mkuranga districts. “By laying a gas grid and other necessary infrastructure we will ensure that the residents of Mtwara and Lindi will be able to use the gas,” said Prof Muhongo in the statement adding that in the future other regions will also be linked to the grid. In efforts to create a good environment for investments in natural gas the government has embarked on a project to turn Mtwara a free port, said the minister. According to him, basic infrastructure will be built in order to attract different companies to invest in the oil and natural gas sector. The minister added that the government has allocated areas for establishment of Industrial parks in the southern region. The industries include fertiliser factories, liquefied natural gas and petrochemical industries.He said the youth in the two regions would also benefit in form of securing jobs in business entities to be formed and related to the gas sector. “The two natural gas processing plants, which will be built in Madimba (Mtwara) and in Songosongo (Lindi), will require a lot of labour force mainly from the young,” he said. Prof Muhongo faulted those who argue that the government has ignored the interests of Mtwara residents, saying what  the critics  did not know was the fact that the region’s economy is weak to absorb the entire gas by its own. He said  that the government has been making efforts to try and attract more investors to establish gas and oil allied industries such as cement factories and petro-chemical industries, moves that will turn Mtwara into a special zone for oil and gas. He was responding to arguments raised by demonstrators last week in Mtwara municipality who were protesting against the gas pipeline project saying it would not benefit them. They also demanded for the gas extracted in their region to benefit them first through construction of appropriate factories such as fertiliser plants and chemical allied plants. He said that currently, Mtwara is already benefiting in terms of gas powered electricity, whereas the town receives 12 megawatts out of 18 megawatts produced at Mnazi Bay. He clarified that under the country’s laws the regional boundaries in the coast zone was at 12 nautical miles or 22.22 km from the sea. “Most of the discovered natural gas is in the deep sea areas amounting to 78 per cent of total amount of gas discovered. Gas found in Mtwara constitutes only about 14 per cent, while Lindi has seven per cent and Coastal region has only one per cent,” he said. According to him, the country has discovered about 35 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, most of which is in deep sedimentary rock layers in deep sea.