Makamba’s worries over $30 billion gas project

Dar es Salaam. Minister for Energy January Makamba feels exalted by the $30 billion (Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), which is expected to open various investment opportunities in the country.
Mr Makamba, who is also the Bumbuli Constituency legislator, said the investment was giving him sleepless nights because it is a strategic investment that will attract Foreign Domestic Investment (FDI).
“It is a huge and historic project in the country. If you ask me, the project makes me excited and tremble at the same time,” said Mr Makamba during a debate on Thursday to unveil the Sixth Phase government’s achievements in the energy sector.
During the event that was live broadcast by Azam television, Mr Makamba said the project has excited him because it would in the near future change the country’s energy sector immensely.
He said despite the significance of the project, he was worried over preparedness of human resources.
The soft-spoken politician outlined some of the opportunities that would be created during the four to six years of implementation as not less than 16,000 jobs.
“The value of procurement starting from construction, fuel, security, financial services, food and everything are proportional to what has never happened in the history of the country,” he said.

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“The value of demanded chicken alone during the implementation of the project is $90 million. About 900 professional welders would be required during the project execution. The question is do we have them? The answer is No,” he added.

He said while civil works would be executed by Tanzanians there are serious engineering works that would be done by experts, noting however that on top of “our people benefitting from working as casual labourers”, there should be plans to retain skills at home.
According to him, these skills should enable Tanzanians to work abroad after completion of the project for their individual benefits and that of the country.
He said during the ongoing negotiation. Both sides have given the nod to the agreement and endorsed the Project Commercial Structure (PCS), which is among the achievements of the Sixth Phase government in the sector because no such agreement was reached before.
The minister said PCS was the one that allowed decision making in different areas of the projects including fiscal issues, financing and tax, technicalities and the level of output on the ships for export etc. “Our expectation is that about 14 to 15 million metric tonnes of natural gas will be produced by the plant per year. Therefore, it is a huge project that will require four times the area of the Julius Nyerere Hydro-power Project (JNHPP),” he said.
Following increased demand for trained human resources, the government was planning to construct the oil and gas as well as electricity polytechnic college in Mtwara in order to immediately bring the skills to the market.
“During the 2022/23 budget, the ministry will reveal the type of the youth that will be admitted to the college for skills acquisition,” he said.