NAIROBI, Kenya
The Kenyan government has announced plans to speed up construction of the proposed gas pipeline from Tanzania in an effort to cut prices of cooking gas.
President William Ruto on
Monday said the 600-kilometre pipeline that Kenya will use to import gas from
the Mtwara plant in Tanzania is a priority item, a pronouncement that looks set
to end a delay of over one year.
The pipeline whose cost is
estimated at Ksh132 billion ($1.1 billion) is part of a Memorandum of
Understanding on Cooperation in Natural Gas Transportation that former
President Uhuru Kenyatta signed with Tanzanian President Samia Hassan in
May last year.
Importation of gas from
Tanzania will offer Kenya an alternative to lowering the cost of cooking gas.
“We will expedite the gas pipeline from Dar es Salaam to Mombasa and eventually to Nairobi so that we can use the resources that we have in our to lower energy tariffs both for commercial and domestic use in Kenya,” Mr Ruto said on Monday in a joint briefing with president Hassan.
“We will ensure that what the
Government of Kenya is required to do will be done in a timely, efficient and
effective manner so that in the shortest time possible we can access the gas
resources that you have in your country.”
The project to be funded
through Public Private Partnership (PPP) will, upon completion, allow Kenya tap
the vast natural gas deposits of Tanzania and lower the cost of cooking gas and
also electricity prices.
The 13-kilogramme cooking gas
has shot up to Sh3,400 while the six-kilogramme is going for Sh1,500 at the
back of global rally in crude prices and the re-introduction of the six percent
Value Added Tax on the commodity.
Kenya re-introduced 16 percent
VAT on cooking gas in July last year and coupled with the global jump in cost
of crude, led to a surge in prices of the commodity.
The tax was halved this year
after a public uproar but oil marketers have failed to pass on the tax
reduction to consumers.
Unlike diesel, super and
kerosene, prices of cooking gas are not controlled by the State leaving consumers
at the mercy of oil dealers.
No comments:
Post a Comment