AfricaPress-Tanzania: A PROJECT to connect natural gas supply system to Sinza and Chang’ombe households in Dar es Salaam is expected to be completed between August and September this year, the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) has confirmed.
TPDC Managing Director, Dr James Mataragio, said recently during a tour of the natural gas pipeline along Sinza Street that the project would be completed in six months, according to the directives from the minister for energy.
He said after discussing with the contractor, there were some changes, including equipment to be used in the country from local manufacturers.
He urged local pipeline manufacturers not to increase prices as the government aimed at continuing supporting local manufacturers.
In the past weeks Minister for Energy, Doto Biteko issued a directive to the project contractor to source materials from local factories instead of buying gas meters and pipes from outside the country.
He explained that the contractor was able to change some of the items such as the importation of pressure reduction equipment and the availability of pipes from the Plasco Company to supply the pipes.
Previously, importing machinery and pipes took a lot of time, but due to the presence of pipes from Plasco Tanzania which are local manufacturers, it will speed up and complete the project on time.
“Due to the availability of equipment in the country, it will help reduce the time consumed in importing these materials from abroad and will also speed up the completion of work on this project,” he said.
Customers will be connected to natural gas and installed special meters just like the use of Luku electricity.
Dr Mataragio noted that the project of connecting natural gas would involve about 500 to 600 households located in Sinza and Mgulani police barracks.
For his part, BQ Contractor Limited Chief Executive Officer, John Bura said after partnering with TPDC in the use local manufactures in supplying various equipment to be used in this project, the work had been going well for Tanzanians to benefit from this service.
He added that by advising manufacturing suppliers not to use the government’s power to raise prices, as it was a mistake.
TPDC is the national oil company of Tanzania through which the Ministry of Energy and Minerals implements its petroleum exploration and development policies.
