Taifa Gas signs $100 million Zambia electricity agreement

Dar es Salaam. Taifa Gas yesterday announced a $100 million investment in the power generation in Zambia through a joint venture with a local company, Delta Marimba.

Through the investment, the first Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) plant will be established in the northern part of the neighbouring country.

The project will commence production 24 months after securing important approvals from the Zambian authorities including Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

Taifa Gas will also use the entry for exploring more opportunities related to LPG utilisation, ranging from cooking gas to power solutions.

Once operational, the power plant will add 100 megawatt to the Zambian national grid.

Taifa Gas executive director Hamis Ramadhani told the media yesterday that the investment was primarily driven by favourable investment climate and policies created by Tanzania and Zambia presidents Samia Suluhu Hassan and Hakainde Hichilema.

“TG heartily congratulates Zambia’s momentous achievement on the debt restructuring deal,” said Mr Ramadhani.

During the event, Taifa Group chairman Rostam Aziz said the two firms were taking advantage of the presence of better policies allowing the building of a strong economy.

He said that was possible by translating the long and political relations between the two companies to economic aspects in order to benefit citizens of both countries.

“This is the right time for our countries to value issues of economy because it the economy that will transform the lives of our people,” he said.

Furthermore, he said Tanzania was lucky to have good neighbours and friends insisting that it was the right time the said opportunity was used for strengthening the countries’ economies and therefore benefit its people.

According to Mr Aziz, the deal should be the beginning of cooperation between traders from both countries for the benefit of its people.

A Delta Marimba representative, Padmore Muleya, said unlike in the past when people thought that solutions would come from the North, today cooperation has come from a regional partner.

“Solutions has come from a partner who understands where we come from. Tanzania and Zambia have been related for many years ago in a much better way than could be or should be,” he said.

“I sincerely believe, this partnership we entered today is the start of greater developments and partnerships not only for Delta Marimba, but also Zambia and Tanzania at large,” he added.

He said the current Zambia’s energy demand stood at slightly above 3,000 megawatts as compared to an estimated 3,100 megawatts production, noting that the country’s energy demand was still on the increase.

Mr Muleya said the increase in energy demand ranges from growing needs from the consumer and the mining sector, especially after President Hichilema’s announcement targeting an increase in copper production from 890,000 tonnes per annum to three million annually.

“Dramatic increase in copper and silver production was the core demand for increase in power generation in the country,” he said.

“Zambia is an energy hub, exporting and has potential to export more energy to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that faces even more deficit. The country has another potential to export power to Zimbabwe which faces the deficit too,” he added.

According to him, implementation of the project in Zambia provides a wider export opportunity to different countries.

The deal was announced about 40 days after Taifa Group and Generation Capital Limited (GCL) entered into a partnership with the state-owned Zanzibar Electricity Corporation (Zeco) to produce 180 megawatts on the islands.

The power purchase agreement (PPA) for the first-ever utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) project in Zanzibar, which receives 125 megawatts from Tanesco, has a cost of Sh330 billion.