March 14, 2021. Hiyari village in Mtwara Region has launched a compressed natural gas (CNG) pumping station. It has been built within Dangote Cement factory premises and will have capacity to service 250 vehicles.
This is the second CNG station to be build specifically to serve vehicles owned by Dangote Cement factory. The company owns more than 2,000 vehicles, most of which are lorries used to ferry cement from the factory to various regions. They have started using CNG as running fuel.
Tanzania has discovered more than 57.54 trillion cubic feet of gas, most of which is currently used to generate electricity. Some of the gas has been connected to households and some is used as car fuel.
Launching the Sh21 billion facility, the Minister for Energy, Dr Medard Kalemani urge car owners in the country to change their vehicle’s fuel systems as the government is planning to construct five more such stations across the country. He said apart from being cheap, natural gas was environment friendly.
For his part, Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) Executive Director, Dr James Mataragio, said Dangote cement factory was their second major customer of natural gas. “Dangote has started to rely on natural gas because it recognizes it si cheap to use natural gas compared to other sources of energy,” he added.
