Dalbit International, BSL Infrastructure win Tazama oil storage deal
Dar es Salaam. Tazama Pipelines Limited (Tazama) yesterday signed a deal with a consortium of two firms to build a fuel depot with a capacity to hold 120,000m3 of fuel.
Tazama will hand over a site to Dalbit International (Dalbit) and BSL Infrastructure (BSL) in an official ceremony to commence construction of Tanzania’s largest fuel depot site, the company said in a statement yesterday.
It stated that the ground-breaking storage facility will transform Zambia’s fuel supply.
Currently, petroleum products imported into Zambia via Tanzania were stored in multiple facilities across Dar es Salaam because no single facility had enough capacity to meet the demand.
This means that oil marketers in Zambia and Tanzania have had to pay multiple companies for storing fuel, a matter that increases costs.
The new facility, to be build at Kigamboni in Dar es Salaam, will be able to hold 80,000 cubic metres of diesel and 40,000 cubic metres of petrol.
This means that it will be able to store all petroleum products headed for Zambia and drastically improve time and cost efficiencies for oil-marketers.
“Crucially, increasing storage capacity will boost the supply of fuel, helping to alleviate fuel shortages, which is vital for the sustainable development of Zambia,” Tazama said yesterday.
The consortium will build, finance, and operate the site on behalf of Tazama.
The construction, set to take two years, will begin this August and will employ over 250 Tanzanians.
Ensuring local capacity building, technology and knowledge transfer is central to the project, which complements both the government of the Republic of Zambia and that of the United Republic of Tanzania’s efforts to grow their economies.
Dalbit and BSL have a proud history of delivery in Tanzania and Zambia.
They have built 9 fuel depots since 2011, adding nearly over 90 million litres of storage capacity.
All projects have been completed on time, on budget and without any workplace injuries. 2,000 local workers were used to assist in construction.
Dalbit and BSL has always formed close bonds with the local communities in which it operates and supports people even in the most challenging of times.
In Tanzania, Dalbit donated medical equipment for people living with disabilities and hospital beds to equip the children’s ward at Muhimbili Orthopaedic Institute.
Dalbit also donated motorcycles to the Tanzanian police to prop up security in the country in 2014.
Last year in Zambia, $200,000 worth of PPE equipment was delivered to the Ministry of Health and the Beit-CURE hospital in Lusaka to support Covid-19 testing and enhance infection control and protection.
BSL also donated paediatric equipment, valued at $145,000, to the Arthur Davidson Children’s Hospital in 2019.
A spokesperson for Dalbit and BSL said: “We are delighted to begin construction on a project that will have such a transformational effect for the Zambian economy, while also providing exciting job opportunities for hundreds of Tanzanians.
“Fuel storage is a vital part of any country’s energy network, and we look forward to contributing towards the national development of both countries through the successful completion of this exciting public-private partnership.”
