AfDB Approves USD 29.8 Million Loan To Boost Tanzania’s Natural Gas Sector
The African Development Bank (AfDB)
has approved a USD 29.8 Million loan to Tanzania to help the country mobilize
domestic resources and unlock the potential of its natural gas resources
through leveraging domestic markets and local content initiatives.
The approval follows a workshop held in Dar Es
Salaam on 20 March 2017, co-organized by the National Economic Empowerment
Council (NEEC) of Tanzania and the African Natural Resources Center of the
AfDB, under the theme “Unlocking the potential of gas resources In Tanzania,
leveraging domestic markets and local content requirements”.
The one-day workshop held in Dar Es
Salaam focused on local content and gas utilization at national and regional
levels and was attended by representatives from public and private sector, both
national and international.
The Executive Secretary of the NEEC,
Beng’I Issa, addressed the workshop, saying that the Council “looks forward to
a fruitful collaboration between public and private sector to achieve the
intended goal of empowering Tanzanians”.
The approved project will help Tanzania
capture the best value from their natural gas resources through a sound
regulatory framework to manage natural gas reserves and to attract investment,
as well as support for government negotiations teams to ensure the country gets
the best deals and local content policies formulation to create jobs in the gas
sector.
The project will also contribute to designing
strategies for domestication of natural gas, so that the gas resources can be
utilized nationally and regionally to develop the energy and industry sectors.
While the large gas offshore discoveries can be a game changer for the country,
doubling GDP, developing access to energy at national and regional levels and
facilitating industrial development, it also represents significant challenges,
the AfDB explains.
“The AfDB is stepping up its support
to the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania to develop the gas sector
that is potentially transformative for the country,” AfDB’s Country Manager for
Tanzania (OIC), Chidozie Emenuga, said. Tanzania Gas Tanzania’s estimated
natural gas reserves currently (2016) stand at 57 trillion cubic feet (TCF).
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