By Francis Kajubi , The Guardian
In a bid to save costs, conserve and sustain the environment, the government is implementing a new plan, to shift from using traditional cooking, mobility and industrial energy sources to alternative energies.
The initiative is targeting at enabling low-income earning families to easily shift from the use of charcoal and firewood that leads to deforestation and health to cleaner and efficient energy, specifically gas.
The initiative also aims at saving the costs government purchasing imported petroleum products for its motor vehicles through migrating into natural gas, of which Tanzania has a reserve of 57trillion cubit feet.
The shift has gained a fast pace since the past two years as the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA) through its monthly cap prices index released on April 3, 2024 states that throughout the month, the retail pump price in Dar es Salaam for petrol stood at 3,257/- per liter compared to 3,163/- in March 2024.
It states that diesel fetched 3,210/- per liter in April 2024 compared to 3,126/- the preceding month.
Dr. Mwigulu Nchemba, Finance Minister when parliamentarians debated the government’s budget estimates for 2022/23 in the National Assembly, revealed that as of June 2022 the government owned 15,742 motor vehicles, 14,047 motor cycles and 373 machines.
He said that the government spends nearly 3trn/- annually in purchasing motor vehicles’ fuel, the motor vehicles’ spare parts and in maintenance of the vehicles.
If a liter of petrol fetched 3,257/- in April 2024 as per EWURA’s monthly cap price and a top public official using a Land Cruiser that consumes an average of 150 liters of petrol a day, the government incurs 178,320,750/- throughout the 365 days of the year to keep this vehicle on the road.
In that regard, the government spent 2.58trn/- to keep the 15,742 motor vehicles on the road as of June 2022 when a liter of petrol fetched 2,994/-far from the motor cycles’ and machinery expenditure.
This is the reason why the government is investing in the establishment of enough Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) filling stations and lobbying the private sector to join this initiative. Top government officials believe that CNG is likely to cut the spending on fuel by more than a half.
The government is also investing in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and Biogas projects for households, institutions and manufacturing industries consumption.
67 percent of Tanzanians use firewood for cooking as per the Impact of Access to Sustainable Energy Survey (IASES) 2021/22 by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The percentage indicates a drop in firewood consumption from 81 percent as stipulated in the NBS’s National Sample Census of Agriculture Report (NSCA) for 2019/20.
It states only one in 14 households in the rural areas using firewood has a cooking stove with improved efficiency.
Charcoal is the second most common energy source used for cooking (25 percent) compared to 15 percent in the NSCA 2019/20 report.
In rural areas about 88 percent of households use firewood compared with six percent in Dar es Salaam and ten percent in other urban areas.
34 percent of households in Dar es Salaam use gas while electricity is used by 0.46 percent.
In other urban areas, 14 percent of households use gas for cooking while only two percent use electricity. In rural areas, 1.48 percent of households use gas for cooking, and none use electricity.
The National Environmental Management Act No. 20, 2004 Section 6 states: “Every person living in Tanzania shall have a stake and a duty to safeguard and enhance the environment and to inform the relevant authority of any activity and phenomenon that may affect the environment significantly.”
On April 19th 2024 when closing the Energy Sector Week exhibitions held at the National Assembly premises in Dodoma, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said that the shift from using firewood and charcoal for cooking will save over 400,000 hectares that vanishes every year.
He said since the 2021/22 fiscal year the government had injected 8.15trn/- in enhancing the energy sector.
"I encourage the Members of Parliament to start converting their vehicles into using CNG which instead of paying 1mn/- for petrol or diesel from Dodoma to Mwanza city one can secure two CNG cylinders for 40,000/- to travel the same distance," defended Majaliwa.
Majaliwa testified that he has proved that one can spend less than 20,000/- for CNG to travel from Dar es Salaam to Lindi region, a journey that costs 283,000/- by using a vehicle that uses diesel or petrol.
Article 27 (1) of the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania 1977 states: “Every person has the duty to protect the natural resources of the United Republic, the property of the State authority, all property collectively owned by the people.”
In protection of forests and trees, the Premier said that the government has set a target of making 80 percent of the 61.7 million Tanzania's population to shift from using charcoal and firewood to natural gas products come 2034/35.
"The government is eager to see 90 percent of its institutions shifted from using firewood and charcoal for cooking as of December this year. A grace period of up to July this year has been granted for the institutions to lay down LNG, LPG and Biogas infrastructure," said Majaliwa.
The National Environmental Policy 2021 indicates that the rate of deforestation for firewood, charcoal and construction purposes is estimated at 469,420 hectares per year. Deforestation is rampant in unreserved forests.
The Policy states that Tanzania Mainland has 48.1 million hectares of forests and woodlands, representing 55 percent of the total land area.
The report on the Status of Environment focusing on Land Degradation, Forest Degradation and Deforestation by the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) for 2018/19 shows that 54 percent of the local government authorities (LGAs) indicated that the level of deforestation was getting worse as years pass by.
Dr. Doto Biteko, Energy Minister admitted that in Tanzania 85 percent of public and private vehicles are still using petroleum products.
Dr. Biteko said that through the Bulk Procurement System (BPS) for the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) 6.28 billion liters of petroleum products were imported into the country between July 2023 and March 2024.
He said there are 75 OMCs of which 18 are pre-qualified in the bidding process through BPS where only five are active and effective in the bidding process.
Dr. Biteko who also doubles as the Deputy Prime Minister said that of the imported petroleum products, diesel accounted for 3.77 billion liters, petrol 2.29 billion liters while Jet A-1 or Kerosene accounted for 224 million liters.
"Of the 6.28 billion liters, 3.37 billion liters (53.7 percent) were destined for the domestic market while the remaining was for transit to landlocked countries," said Dr. Biteko.
He asserted that as of March 2024 total electricity generation capacity stood at 2,138 megawatts of which 1,198.8 megawatts were generated from Liquefied Natural Gas (56.1 percent).
836.3 megawatts were generated from hydropower sources (39.1 percent), 92.4 megawatts were generated from oil products (4.3 percent) and 10.5 megawatts (0.5 percent) were generated from Biogas.
According to him, as of March this year 2,522 petrol and diesel filling stations were licensed countrywide to run fuel businesses up from 2,297 in March 2023 an increment of 9.8 percent.
"Of the filling stations, 434 are in rural areas increasing from 287 (51.22 percent) in March 2023," said the DPM.
He said the government is in the final stages of recruiting a consultant for administering the conversion of government’s vehicles to using CNG. However, the near future plan is for the government to start importing vehicles that are already installed with the CNG system.
In the middle of the energy sources shifting initiative, he said, the government is considering the establishment of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
This is the case when global crude oil market prices had between July 2023 and March 2024 dropped by seven percent to an average of $84 per barrel compared to an average of $90 per barrel the corresponding periods in 2023 due to various reasons including the Ukraine-Russia war.
The Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA) Report for the year ended June 2022 states that in 2021/22 a sum of 4.09 billion liters of petroleum products were imported into the country compared to 3.83 billion liters in 2020/21.
The report shows that Puma Energy, TotalEnergies and GBP dominated the market share in imports and supply of the petroleum products by 10.8 percent, 10 percent and 7.6 percent respectively.
"During the financial year 2021/22, LPG imports increased to 252,023 metric tons up from 217,149 metric tons in 2020/21," reads the EWURA’s latest released report.
The Vice President’s Office, Environment and Union Minister Dr. Selemani Jafo said that in 2022, the ministry initiated a campaign that required every district council to plant 1.5 million trees a year.
He said during 2023/24 a total of 266,970,203 trees were planted in the 184 country’s district councils of which 211,805,184 have grown well, an equivalent of 76.5 percent of the planted trees.
The campaign is aligned to sensitizing citizens and the private sector to join the government’s campaign in saving the country from turning into a future desert.
Dr. Jafo asserted that during 2023/24 financial year, a total of 169 public institutions have complied with the government’s directive of not using firewood and charcoal as main energy sources in public institutions that feed more than 100 people at a time.
He mentioned the public institutions that have adhered to the order of shifting from charcoal and firewood as 30 Education Colleges, 51 Community Development Colleges and eight Vocational Education and Training Colleges.
Advera Mwijage, Director of Renewable and Alternative Energy Technology at the Rural Energy Agency (REA) said that the Agency has entered into a three-year agreement (2023 to 2026) worth 34bn/-with the Tanzania Prisons Force for supplying it 15,920 LPG cylinders for its officers.
However, the agreement obligates REA to supply the Force with 61 alternative charcoal stoves, to lay down LNG and Biogas infrastructure in 129 prisons of which 76 prisons have already been installed with the infrastructure.
The agreement also will see REA lay down the gas infrastructure in 47 prison camps, 26 prisons regional offices and one Prison’s Force Hospital.
“The Agency has started supplying 200,000 improved stoves to rural communities and 500,000 gas cylinders of 15Kg and 30Kg at affordable prices,” said Mwijage.
The 2015 joint report dubbed: “Tree Harvest Guidelines for Sustainable Production of Charcoal,” by the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group (TFCG), the Tanzania Traditional Energy Development Organization (TaTEDO), MJUMITA and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation recommends that a farmer with six to ten hectares of tree plantations should produce charcoal on a sustainable basis by harvesting one hectare every year.
The National Climate Change Strategy 2012 states that 80 percent of the glaciers on Mountain Kilimanjaro have melted since 1912 due to cutting down of trees for firewood, charcoal and construction thus rising temperatures in the Kilimanjaro National Park (KINAPA).
The report on Global Warming by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for 2018 reveals that two thirds of the coral reefs are likely to disappear by 2030, and all coral reefs will disappear by 2050, if temperature increases above 1.5 degree Celsius.
Ringo Mowo, Executive Director, Sharon Ringo Foundation said that in its 2023/28 strategic plan, the Foundation is set on sensitizing students in primary and secondary schools to plant 10 million trees where so far 51,000 trees have been planted since earlier last year.
“The Foundation is focusing on three intervention areas namely climate action, environmental justice and sustainable tourism;
The main goal is to enhance the young generation, women and communities to act on the three areas thus contributing to a well-being for all through environmental conservation,” said Mowo.
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