Authorities have concluded putting in place a plan that will enable five regions to be connected to natural gas, a move aimed at reducing reliance on erratic electricity, a Tanzanian government senior official said on Sunday, Trend reports citing Xinhua.
Subira Mgalu, the east African nation's Deputy Minister for Energy, named the five regions lined up for natural gas connection as Arusha, Dodoma, Tanga, Kilimanjaro and Morogoro.
Mgalu said the intention of the government was to ensure that all regions were connected to natural gas for domestic and industrial use.
He said the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) has embarked on a grand project to provide infrastructure for connecting natural gas for domestic and industrial use in Dar es Salaam, Coast, Lindi and Mtwara regions.
Under the TPDC project, said Mgalu, more than 50 industries have already been connected to natural gas, adding that almost all industries in the country will be connected to natural gas by 2046.
In May 2018, Mgalu told parliament that the government was implementing a project to connect key industries in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam with natural gas as source of energy, reducing dependence on erratic electricity.
"The plan is to reduce dependence of electricity as the only source of power for production by the industries," said Mgalu.
The official made the remarks as Tanzanian President John Magufuli has promised to turn the country into a middle income industrial economy by 2025.
Tanzania is on the process of implementing a mega hydropower at Stiegler's Gorge along the Rufiji River in the Selous Game Reserve that will produce 2,100 megawatts.
Tanzania, with a population of approximately 55 million, has just 1,500 MW of installed grid capacity.