Pangani biogas project for inauguration today

Arusha. A biogas production project, supported by the Rural Energy Agency (Rea), will be launched at Boza Village in Pangani District, Tanga Region today .

The project, to run for two years, will be implemented by the Tanzania Domestic Biogas Programme (TDBP) in collaboration with the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV). It targets installation of 10,000 biogas plants in the country by the end of 2017.

“With increased commitment from the government through Rea, it is expected that the biogas industry will further grow and contribute to increased access to clean and modern energy in rural and peri-urban households,” said TDBP coordinator Lehada Shila. He said in a statement to The Citizen on Tuesday that the project will lead to further consolidation and expansion of benefits to rural Tanzanians, through a sustainable, private-sector-driven development of the sector.

The contribution from Rea is mainly focusing on co-financing biodigester infrastructure as an investment discount at households, to be channelled through private enterprises that construct the biodigesters.

In addition to the investment discounts, the Rea financing is aimed to expand biogas market development to new areas beyond those which TDBP currently operates and to engage in institutional biogas technology use beyond domestic applications.

TDBP is hosted in Arusha by the Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation and Rural Technology and aims to construct over 29,000 biogas plants by 2018.

The programme is part of the Africa Biogas Partnership Programme (ABPP) funded by the Directorate General for International Cooperation (DGIS) of the Netherland’s ministry of Foreign Affairs. ABPP is managed by Hivos.