Owners of SMEs all smiles as oil pipeline project launched

Expectations are high among small and medium enterprises following the launch of the Sh8 trillion crude oil pipeline in Chongoleani Village, Tanga Region.

The ground breaking event was graced by President John Magufuli and his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni.

Speaking to The Citizen on Sunday, Mr Mohammed Ali, 33, owner of a restaurant in the area, who yesterday attended the project inauguration ceremony, expressed his optimism, saying the opportunities, which come with the initiative in would transform his business.

“When I heard about the project, I said to myself, this is the right time to make money. As you can see, even today a number of small entrepreneurs have managed to make some money, imagine this is just for a few hours, the project is here to stay for three years,” he said.

He also noted that the construction phase of the oil pipeline would make some manual temporary jobs available to the youth in the village.

He stated, “Despite the fact that the job opportunities will be scarce and short-term, majority villagers especially the youth will secure a means of an income, hence increase money circulation here,” he said.

For her part, Ms Hamisa Abdul, 46, a food vendor called on relevant authorities to help the host communities to address lack of social services and infrastructure.

According to her, some areas around the project were facing an acute shortage of clean and safe drinking water.

She stated: “Business has been good in the past few days; people are flocking here for project related activities.” Adding “I was selling at least 30 plates of rice previously, but now the business is encouraging as for today managed to sell some 55 plates of rice,” she said wearing a broad smile.

She added “Water access should be priority for the community here because of long standing issues of availability and access of the precious liquid,” she said.

Yesterday’s crude oil pipeline project inauguration ceremony was attended by various government officials, development partners and civil society organizations, amongst others.

The project is expected to create 10,000 temporarily job opportunities and 1,000 direct job opportunities when it is fully completed.