The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) is a multilateral development finance institution established to contribute to the economic development and social progress of African countries. The AfDB was founded in 1964 and comprises three entities: The African Development Bank, the African Development Fund and the Nigeria Trust Fund.
Recently, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a USD 29.8 Million loan to Tanzania to help the country mobilize domestic resources and unlock the potential of its natural gas resources through leveraging domestic markets and local content initiatives. Tanzania is said to be experiencing financial instability in carrying out this action which resulted to seeking for assistance.
In addition, the approval follows a workshop held in Dar Es Salaam on co-organized by the country’s government through the National Economic Empowerment Council (NEEC) and the African Natural Resources Center of the AfDB on the theme “Unlocking the potential of gas resources In Tanzania, leveraging domestic markets and local content requirements”. This workshop went a long way to explain strategies to execute the task.
Consequently, the approved project will help Tanzania capture the best value from their natural gas resources through a sound regulatory framework to manage natural gas reserves and to attract investment, as well as support for government negotiations teams to ensure the country gets the best deals and local content policies formulation to create jobs in the gas sector. The project will also contribute to designing strategies for domestication of natural gas, so that the gas resources can be utilized nationally and regionally to develop the energy and industry sectors. While the large gas offshore discoveries can be a game changer for the country, doubling GDP, developing access to energy at national and regional levels and facilitating industrial development, it also represents significant challenges.
“The AfDB is stepping up its support to the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania to develop the gas sector that is potentially transformative for the country,” AfDB’s Country Manager for Tanzania (OIC), Chidozie Emenuga, said.
However, the one-day workshop in Dar Es Salaam focused on local content and gas utilization at national and regional levels and was well attended with representatives from public and private sector, both national and international. The Executive Secretary of the NEEC, Beng’I Issa, addressed the workshop, saying that the Council “looks forward to a fruitful collaboration between public and private sector to achieve the intended goal of empowering Tanzanians”.
It was further explained that Local content is a key priority for the country to ensure that local private sector can benefit from these large foreign investments estimated at about USD 40b to develop the LNG production and export facilities. Also, Gas Domestication is another key priority of the Government when developing the gas sector. Accessing gas resources at the regional level can springboard access to energy, develop regional infrastructures and private sector development.
The mobilization of domestic resources and unlocking the potential of the country’s natural gas resources through leveraging domestic markets and local content initiatives will create a significant progress in Tanzania economy which will result to a widespread development.
