THE Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) has laid out a number of strategies to increase natural gas use in vehicles and cooking in the country.
One of the strategies is the submission of an application to the government for tax exemption for natural gas car and truck conversion kits.
TPDC Director General Mussa Makame revealed this in Dar es Salaam on Friday during a meeting with media editors.
So far, 1,511 families and seven institutions in Dar es Salaam, Coast, Lindi, and Mtwara Regions have been connected to natural gas for cooking and transportation, according to him.
He asserted that they sent suggestions through the Ministry of Finance to lower the cost of the conversion equipment.
The TPDC boss added that there are plans to enhance the number of natural gas filling stations for automobiles, including separating Dar es Salaam into four zones with stations in each.
According to Mr Makame, 20 firms have received permits for the construction of stations, including the Egyptian company Taqa Arabia, which plans to erect 12 stations, and the Puma Company,which plans to erect natural gas infrastructure in its stations.
“Two stations, which are being constructed by Taqa Arabia and Dalbit Petroleum around the Airport and Sinza area opposite Sam Nujoma Road, will be ready before the end of this year,” said Mr Makame.
These stations, he explained, will have workshops for converting vehicles to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) systems.
Within the set timeframe of two years, TPDC also intends to build a CNG mother station at Mlimani City that will enable large vehicles to pick up the gas from the station and distribute it to various regions where infrastructure has not yet been reached.
Mr Makame added that the centre will be able to serve six vehicles by filling in natural gas at once, including enabling six trucks to pick up gas from the station and distribute it to other areas.
According to Mr Makame, TPDC is collaborating with Rural Energy Agency (REA) to connect 529 houses at a cost of 3.82bn at Mnazi Mmoja area in Lindi Region and another 451 houses in Mkuranga District at a cost of 2.99bn/-.
He said the government, through TPDC is continuing with the construction of a 12.4- km long natural gas supply pipeline from Mwenge to Mbezi Beach via Bagamoyo Road at a cost of 3.29bn/- whose implementation has reached 75 per cent. Two factories and five hotels are expected to be connected as first customers.
In terms of natural gas production, she said it has increased to 68.02 billion cubic feet compared to 59.96 billion cubic feet produced during the same period in 2021/22, equivalent to an increase of 13 percent.
Last month, Works and Transport Minister Prof Makame Mbarawa said the government was considering giving subsidies for Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles to encourage the use of the source of energy.
“The government is considering the possibility of introducing a subsidy programme to attract more people to convert their cars to CNG,” he noted.
