Tanzania government set to spend Sh1.4trillion on Nyerere dam project
Dar es Salaam. The government will spend Sh1.4 trillion during the coming financial year on the 2,115 Megawatts (MW) Julius Nyerere Hydroelectric Power Project, it was announced in Parliament yesterday.
The money, requested by Energy minister Medard Kalemani, is 58.67 percent of the entire amount that the ministry will spend in its budget for the 2021/2022 financial year.
Requesting the House’ endorsement for the ministry’s Sh2.386 trillion 2021/22 financial year budget, Dr Kalemani said activities that will be implemented under the strategic project include; construction of diversion tunnels at the Rufiji River, building the main dam and spill-ways, construction of tunnels, power house and a switch yard.
By May 2021, the project whose total cost is Sh6.55 trillion, had already consumed Sh2.49 trillion.
Its completion as measured by five critical paths, said Dr Kalemani, was currently at about 52 percent.
The completion of the project and others that were currently being implemented by the government through the Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (Tanesco), would increase the country’s power generation capacity to 5,000 MW by 2025.
“In that period, we expect that power demand will be at 2,677 MW, thus leaving us with a surplus of 2,323 MW which can be exported and generate income,” he said.
According to him the government is also implementing these projects with a goal of reducing electricity costs to the citizens.
During the coming financial year, the government will also continue with the implementation of a number of other power generation projects, including Ruhudji, Ramakali, Rusumo and extension of the 185MW Kinyerezi I among others.
Other focus areas include the construction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) projects.
Dr Kalemani said the country’s power generation capacity has reached 1,605.85 MW.
He said currently a total of 47 million Tanzanians were connected to electricity, representing 78 percent of the total estimated population of 60 million people.
The chairman for the Parliamentary Committee on Energy and Minerals, Mr Dunstan Kitandula, called on the government to ensure funds for implementation of the national flagship and strategic projects were disbursed on time so that they can be completed as estimated.
The plan was that the Julius Nyerere Dam would start being filled with water in November 2021 and start generating electricity by June 2022.
“This is because the strategic projects implemented by the Ministry are important and significantly contribute to national GDP and Economic Growth in general,” he said.
Meanwhile, construction of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant will start in July next year, Dr Kalemani said yesterday.
He told the Parliament that actual construction of the $30 billion (Sh70.56 trillion) LNG plant will take five years to complete.
So far, he said, the government has issued Sh5.71 billion in compensations and interests to people who had to leave the place where the plant will be built.
“In the 2021/22 financial year, we (the government) plan to complete the Host Government Agreement (HGA) negotiations with project investors and complete the review of the Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs),” he told the parliament yesterday.
A total of Sh3 billion has been allocated for the implementation of the preparations for the construction of the project.
The Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) told The Citizen in April 2021 that the HGA negotiations that have stalled for more than three years now, would resume in May this year.
