MINISTER of State in the VicePresident\u2019s Office (Union and Environment) Mussa Zungu said on Tuesday that Dar es Salaam residents are expected to spend 600\/- only on gas to cook a meal for five persons in a planned scheme to make urban dwellers switch from use of charcoal to gas.<\/p>\n
He was briefing journalists after holding talks with the Managing Director of the Circle Gas, Mr Volker Schultz, at his Office in Dar es Salaam.<\/p>\n
Circle Gas plans to invest in cooking gas business in East African cities and towns, starting with Dar see Salaam and Nairobi.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely, gas is far cheaper than charcoal,\u201d the minister told reporters adding, \u201ca family in Dar es Salaam will spend 600\/- only on gas and cook a meal for five people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Zungu welcome the scheme advanced by the company but said education and public awareness campaign would be necessary to make many people switch from charcoal to gas.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a country we encourage the use of alternative energy as the only solution to protection of forests and environment. We have taken several steps together with environment stakeholders,\u201d the minister said.<\/p>\n
He said the use of charcoal increased enormously because of fast increasing population.<\/p>\n
\u201cTree felling has increased sharply. Latest studies show that over two million tonnes of charcoal are used annually as source of cooking energy. This has a very negative effect on environment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Zungu explained that the scheme had not started, but said once talks were concluded phase one implementation of the project would start in Dar es Salaam, benefiting 10,000 residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe shall be happy if this scheme will take off because over 90 of the Dar es Salaam residents depend on charcoal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
According to the minister, a resident would not be required to pay for the stove and metre in the first 18 months. The residents would only pay for gas depending on their consumption, he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Schultz said their company\u2019s long-term plan was to make many urban people use gas for the good of environment.<\/p>\n
But, he continued, their current focus was cities like Dar es Salaam and Nairobi, where many people use charcoal instead of gas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MINISTER of State in the VicePresident\u2019s Office (Union and Environment) Mussa Zungu said on Tuesday that Dar es Salaam residents are expected to spend 600\/- only on gas to cook a meal for five persons in a planned scheme to make urban dwellers switch from use of charcoal to gas. He was briefing journalists after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":4279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,8],"tags":[2283,2034,2282],"class_list":["post-4282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","category-homepage-english","tag-gas","tag-mussa-zungu","tag-volker-schultz"],"yoast_head":"\n