Minister challenges cooking gas firms to lower prices

Mbeya. Deputy minister for Energy Judith Kapinga has challenged cooking gas stakeholders to lower prices and consider smaller cylinders that will allow users to buy daily.

Cooking gas is currently packaged in three to 38 kilogramme cylinders.

However, Ms Kapinga, who was speaking during the Oryx Gas cooking competition, said smaller sizes were needed for low-income earners to buy daily.

“One of the requests from the citizens to gas stakeholders is to reduce the price of cooking gas, which is currently high,” she said during the competition that involved 1,000 food vendors.

“We suggest the stakeholders in the gas sector to create a system that will enable citizens to purchase gas in small units daily instead of paying for a large quantity at once,” she said.

The five-day competition that aimed to promote clean cooking in Tanzania ended on Saturday.

Ms Kapinga emphasised that if gas could be purchased in small amounts, more people would use gas for cooking, reduce the rate of environmental degradation, and also protect the health of the citizens.

She also used the forum to refute the perception that cooking with firewood and charcoal makes food taste better, citing an example of food cooked during the competition that she said was delicious.

Speaker of Parliament speaker who is also a Mbeya Urban legislator, Dr Tulia Ackson, said that there is every reason to continue encouraging people to use clean energy that is safe for health and the environment.

“We had the cooking competition for food vendors to support the efforts of President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who is the champion of clean cooking energy in Africa and is now recognised worldwide,” she said.

“When we do such activities, we educate about the importance of using clean energy and abandoning unsafe energy.

We believe you will be motivated to use alternative energy when cooking food in your restaurants and stalls, thus helping to protect the environment. The gas stoves and cylinders you have received from our Oryx partners should be a catalyst for you to grow,” she said.

Oryx provided 1,000 stoves and cylinders to the food vendors. Oryx Gas Tanzania managing director Benoit Araman said the main goal of the cooking competition was to promote the use of clean energy to protect the environment.

“For over 15 years, the availability of cooking energy has been planned and discussed, but now the government, led by President Samia Suluhu Hassan, has been enthusiastic about encouraging citizens to use clean cooking energy,” he said, adding that the company has reached more than 12,000 food vendors across the country so far.