Heavy machines for Uganda oil pipeline due next week

From CHEJI BAKARI in Tanga

TANGA port is expecting to receive heavy duty machines destined for construction of the Hoima-Tanga crude oil pipeline next week, according to a top officer of the port.

The Deputy Tanga port chief officer, Donald Ngaile, said at a seminar in Tanga yesterday that by end of January, this year, they expect to receive two cranes with capacity of lifting one hundred tonnes at once.

The seminar was organised by Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC), Ministry of Energy and Tanga region administration dubbed “Economic opportunities ahead implementation of Uganda - Tanzania pipeline project execution.” Between April and June, this year, the port will receive other construction materialslift and tractors, he said, adding other cargoes will be cleared at Dar es Salaam port.
He elaborated that apart from those building materials cargoes also the port is expected to clear 500,000 tonnes and 6,000 containers annually and would upgrade port structures aimed at enabling provision of services for large ships and increasing the number of cargo ships. To cope with expected increase of cargo, another scanner for scanning containers would be purchased, he said.
In another development, he said the port authority has allocated a total of 214 acres at Chongoleani village to TPDC for construction of oil storage tanks and jetty. On the side of Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) Legal Officer, Demelina Martin, said the project is single integrated from both Uganda and Tanzania and is implemented by three phases and will take two years until its completion.
She said first and second phases of the project design has been completed comprising routes options, geophysical and geological research by taking soil samples and what remains is geotechnical research which is currently being carried out for the execution of the project. President John Magufuli and his Ugandan counterpart, Yoweri Museveni, commissioned the construction of the 1,445km-long East African crude oil pipeline in May, last year.
The heated crude oil pipeline, the longest of its kind in the world, will cost 3.5 billion US dollars and will be completed by 2020, making Uganda join the ranks of oil producing countries.
The pipeline works will be undertaken by Total E&P, CNOOC and Tullow Oil together with the two governments of Uganda and Tanzania. The pipeline will on completion carry 216,000 barrels of crude oil for export daily.