03:00
Dar
es Salaam - $1.9 billion to be invested
each year in Tanzania by 2025 in energy projects in a bid to end power
shortages and boost industrial growth in East Africa's second-biggest economy,
its prime minister said.
Tanzania
aims to boost power generation capacity to 10,000 megawatts from around 1,500MW
at present, using natural gas and coal and reducing its dependence on hydro
power sources.
"Tanzania’s
electricity sector faces another important challenge. As it is heavily
dependent on hydropower, energy provision cannot be ascertained in times of
drought," Tanzania's prime minister, Kassim Majaliwa, said in a statement
late on Tuesday.
"Severe
and recurrent droughts in the past few years triggered a devastating power
crisis as electricity generation in most of the hydropower stations have
progressively been declining in recent years, occasionally resulting in long
hours of power black outs."
Majaliwa
said the government wants to see more private capital investment in the energy
sector.
"The
projected power projects funding exceeds the existing government fiscal
space," he said. "To attract private capital, the government is
improving institutional set up, legal and regulatory frameworks."
Investors
have long complained that lack of reliable power was one of the obstacles of
doing business in Tanzania.
Tanzania
said last week Japan's Koyo Corporation plans to invest $1 billion in a
gas-fired power plant near big offshore natural gas fields off the African
country's southern shore.
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