Hope as PM visits site of Sh670bn power project

Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa speaks to the Export Processing Zones Authority director general, Colonel (retired) Joseph Simbakalia (right) in Bagamoyo during his recent visit to the Kamal Industrial Estate. PHOTO|THE CITIZEN CORRESPONDENT

What you need to know:

  • The optimism comes after Prime Minister, Kassim Majaliwa visited the project site in Bagamoyo last week in which he directed Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (Tanesco) to sit down and finalise negotiations with Kamal Power Limited, a subsidiary of Kamal Group.

Dar es Salaam. A city based company, Kamal Group is now looking forward to investing a total of $300 million (about Sh670 billion) into an electricity generation project, The Citizen has learnt.

The optimism comes after Prime Minister, Kassim Majaliwa visited the project site in Bagamoyo last week in which he directed Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (Tanesco) to sit down and finalise negotiations with Kamal Power Limited, a subsidiary of Kamal Group.

The Sh670 billion, to be invested into the project, will see Kamal Power producing 225MW of electricity from gas from the Kamal Group’s Industrial Estate in Bagamoyo in the Coast Region.

The project has been delayed due to long-winded negotiations involving Kamal Power Limited and Tanesco.

Recognizing the importance of the project, Mr Majaliwa, accompanied by Industry, Trade and Investment Minister, Mr Charles Mwijage and other senior government officials visited Kamal Industrial Estate on Tuesday last week and directed Tanesco managing director, Dr Tito Mwinuka to swiftly organize a meeting with Kamal Power Limited so they can speedily conclude the negotiations.

“The government is serious with its industrialisation agenda and will not tolerate issues that hinder Tanzania’s industrial take off,” Mr Majaliwa said.

The planned power plant is a joint venture between Kamal Group and India’s Shapoorji Pallonji Group. The two companies will produce 225MW of electricity and sell it to Tanesco under the Power Purchase Agreement that is currently being negotiated.

The project has already received the Environment Clearance and is in advanced stage of development.

Currently, three industries are already producing various products at the Kamal Industrial Park, employing a total of 50 people directly and around 300 people indirectly.

These include the Kamal Acetylene Ltd, the Move Max Refinery and CHICO.

Speaking at the event, the regional commissioner for the Coast Region, Mr Everest Ndikilo said unreliability of power supply was a major challenge facing industries in the region and called upon Tanesco to improve the situation.

In his remarks, Mr Mwijage said Tanzania has a total of 393 large industries out of which, 84 are located in the Coast Region.