Rufiji
Platinum Member
- Jun 18, 2006
- 1,881
- 941
| This is what the minister said today; STAMICO to run Kiwira coal mine KIWIRA coal mine in Mbeya Region, which has won a 400m US dollars (about 600bn/-) Chinese soft loan will be run by the State Mining Corporation (STAMICO) and not China as reported on Monday. Energy and Minerals Minister William Ngeleja, has clarified that China was only a financier for the project to generate 200 MegaWatts. A report in the 'Daily News' had quoted Mr Ngeleja as telling journalists in Dodoma last Sunday that the Chinese had been given preference over NSSF to run the mine. "We will run it ourselves through STAMICO using a soft loan from China," said the minister by telephone from Dodoma yesterday On the other hand, this is what the same minister, Mr. Empty Suit, stipulated yesterday... China to run Kiwira Mine: THE Government has accepted China's offer to run Kiwira Coal mine and therefore ditching the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) to run the same. The Minister for Energy and Minerals, Mr William Ngeleja, told journalists here on Sunday that the Chinese government would invest 400 million US dollars (about 600bn/-) under a soft loan arrangement. The minister was briefing the media on current status of power generation in the country and measures taken by the government and Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) in addressing the situation. Mr Ngeleja mentioned several criteria used to accept the Chinese government's offer including timing of applications to run the mine and magnitude of investment. Kiwira Coal mine is projected to generate 200MW upon its completion. He revealed that five organisations including NSSF applied to run the project but the government decided to accept Chinese offer. "NSSF applied to develop the mine last December while the Chinese applied before and pledged to invest 400 milliom US dollars through soft loans. "NSSF advanced several reasons to take over the project including the reason that former investors of the project owe them a lot of money, but the former investors owe various institutions including CRDB Bank," the minister explained. Mr Ngeleja noted that the government also considered other factors including capital, technology and expertise of applicants in power generation. He further revealed that the government also took into consideration long relations between Tanzania and China. He, however, appreciated the NSSF's offer, welcoming the Fund to invest in other projects such as development of natural gas projects. The minister also urged private entities and individuals to invest in power generation as the Electricity Supply Act of 2008 had opened doors for private entities to generate power. Mr Ngeleja said that the government was still pondering on whether to unbundle TANESCO in generation, transmission and distribution separate entities or not. "Let me remind you that transmission of electricity is a very sensitive issue. But the private sector is allowed in power generation and they should seize the opportunity to generate power instead of insisting privatisation of TANESCO. "People should not mislead the public that the government is entertaining TANESCO's monopoly, I wonder why private entities have not joined hands to generate power while they're allowed by the law," he stressed. Speaking on the status of power supply in the country, the minister attributed the current power rationing to drought that had forced hydro power plants to operate below capacity. He, however, expressed optimism that the situation would be addressed soon following conclusion of agreements between TANESCO and Agrrieko and Symbion in which the two firms would generate a total of 212.5MW. Mr Ngeleja also stated that Treasury had pledged to release funds by this week to enable ITPL to generate 100MW. He rubbished claims by some people that the government and TANESCO had not been doing enough to address power woes, adding that some people are orchestrating such claims to meet their political interests. | |
|
