Gas Policy is good...but walk the talk!

By Editor

Editorial cartoon

The government this week made public a Gas Policy to administer the industry ostensibly for the benefit of the country and its citizens. Reading through the document, one may conclude that it is by far the best thus far.

We are made to believe that the policy document is good; and reading in between the dotted lines, it gives opportunity to the government and locals to participate effectively in the natural gas business.

The document further admits that the rapid growth in the natural gas industry in the country requires the involvement of the government in directing the resources and leading other players towards the desired development.

The policy says, for instance, that the government should participate in investment and ownership of strategic infrastructure, in addition to the traditional roles of facilitation and regulation.
Already, the government is building a gas pipeline from Mtwara to Dar es Salaam at the coast of $1.2 billion and it is also establishing a gas receiving station at Kinyerezi in the outskirts of Dar es Salaam city.

The document also outlines the main objective of the policy as to provide guidance for the sustainable development and utilization of the natural gas resources and maximization of the benefits there from and contribute to the transformation and diversification of the Tanzanian economy.

The document assures everyone of us that formation of a fully owned state enterprise would have exclusive rights to purchase, collect, transport and sell natural gas produced in the country-onshore, shallow-shore and offshore.

It stressed that natural gas would in effect only be exported when domestic market has been met. In recent years, Tanzanians have been caught up in debate that underlines the need to ensure gas and its proceeds benefit Tanzanians.

These concerns aren’t idle; they stem from the bad experience in the mining sector, where it is believed we were ripped off liked silly; we simply got nothing from that sector. This was partly due to lack of negotiations skills with foreign investors who came when this nation had neither the technology nor the capital to dig up its wealth. So the marauding foreign firm got away with it – with us watching!

Gas is a natural resource which, if well administered, could transform the livelihoods of our people. Gas is a source of energy in almost everything -- cooking at homes, electricity generation, industry or running cars. Russia today has a voice when it comes to energy matters simply because it supplies gas to the rest of Europe.

Now, with the discovery of gas amounting to 42.7 Trillion Cubic Feet ( TCF), compounded with this policy document we believe Tanzania will never be the same again as there is a possibility of becoming a middle income nation in the near future.

Again, with discoveries of such enormous amounts of gas we believe that power woes will be history and Tanzanians would now be able to shift to gas as a source of cooking energy instead of fire woods and charcoal.

However, given the fact that we, as Tanzanians, are good at paper work and poor in action, what we have written in this document may well end up in a trash bin.
Locals, indeed, must participate in the business to bring a sense of ownership in this industry – but when foreigners have an upper hand?
This is a practical joke!

Much as we may pride ourselves over a good policy document, we’ve to walk the talk -- in the law and the guidelines that follow.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN