TANZANIA: DEPUTY Prime Minister and Minister for Energy, Dr Doto Biteko has expressed the government’s commitment to ensure there is a conducive and favourable investment environment in the energy sector to stimulate economic development.
Dr Biteko made the commitment on Thursday, during the event to celebrate and launching of a report of 60 years of collaboration between Tanzania and Sweden in the energy sector. The Deputy Prime Minister noted Sweden’s significant contribution to various energy projects in Tanzania, particularly in the electricity field.
“Sweden is among the key partners that contribute significantly to energy projects, especially electricity. For example, it has contributed 142bn/- in the electricity project where 1,328 villages and a total of 101,000 customers have been connected,” he said.
He said that Sweden has also provided 52bn/-, as the cost of connecting electricity services to approximately 151 villages and has been supporting the refurbishment of the Hale power plant, which has a capacity of generating 21 megawatts of electricity.
“We are really grateful to the Swedish government and we promise that our government will continue to cooperate with them,” said Dr Biteko.
Dr Biteko said that the government is currently planning to increase investment in the energy sector and urged stakeholders of the sector to effectively utilise loans and aid opportunities provided by development partners and stakeholders to continue bringing development to the people.
He said the government will utilise effectively the loans and grants provided by stakeholders and development partners as a way of demonstrating the reasons for continued support from donors.
He expressed the government’s commitment to look for the best means of building the country’s internal capacity for a vast and best performing energy sector.
Dr Biteko also commended Scania company that has introduced a technology to convert waste into clean energy to address climate change issues.
“It is our belief that waste produced in the country will be turned into energy to help deal with climate change as we will reduce pollution by giving waste more meaningful purpose,” he emphasised.
On her part, the Swedish Ambassador in the country, Charlotta-Ozaki Macias, highlighted the close cooperation between Tanzania and Sweden in several sectors, including education, health, energy, good governance and democracy. She said that Sweden has provided approximately 8 billion US dollars to support the energy sector in building infrastructure in rural electrification projects.
“Tanzania and Sweden have a close partnership in all societal sectors over the last 60 years, there are many achievements to be proud of, hence this partnership provides a solid platform for our potential relationship in the future” she said. On his part, the Scania Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ali Dar, noted that Scania’s gas-fuelled trucks have met the highest standards of clean emissions and noise reduction.
He mentioned that the Scania gas truck was officially launched in Tanzania in 2021 and it is a proven technology that reduces emissions and noise levels
Source : Daily News
