Sector players have asked the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) to speed up the construction of the infrastructure of the mother stations to attract more companies to invest in the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) filling stations.
The use of CNG is wider since it provides a cleaner and more affordable type of energy to operate industries as well as cars.
Once the TPDC completes the mother stations which are going to be built along Sam Nujoma Mlimani City area will attract many to convert their vehicles since the filling stations will be increased.
A Kleenair CNG Limited Director, Mr Adnan Mohammed said that to open CNG filling stations must have a pipeline and the trend shows that there is a positive response from motorists of converting vehicles to CNG where to date more than 2000 vehicles have been converted.
“If investors open the filling stations in the area where there is no pipeline, he need to transport it to the filling station which will make it expensive TPDC and EWURA must speed up by having a pipeline throughout the country,” said Mr Mohammed whose factory is located at Kigamboni, Dar es Salaam.
Having such mother stations and daughter stations will help company owners to use them for filling trucks to distribute to their filling stations.
“We are looking for this business plan on introducing Kleenair CNG filling stations but it is very difficult for now to have a filling station at Kigamboni where our factory is because we need to buy CNG and transport it.
To buy from a pipeline will be cheaper than elsewhere,” said Mr Mohammed adding we are looking for a daughter and mother.
“We believe that CNG is the fuel of the future and we are committed to expanding this technology in Tanzania,” said Mr Mohammed.
“In areas with no pipelines let’s say at Kigamboni, the companies need to buy trucks for transport where operation cost will be up compared to the profit we make in terms of using the daughter stations.
In addition, Kleenair CNG Director urged TPDC after mother and daughter stations to sell at a reasonable price which will be attractive to investors in the sector.
Mr Mohammed said his company has the capacity of converting one to four vehicles per day in good quality.
“Kleenair CNG Limited can do more but we want to make sure we do it correctly since we have experts with 16 years’ experience,” he said adding we are committed to delivering quality services and products that are reliable, sustainable, and environmentally friendly.
He said that the challenge faced by many Tanzanians is the high cost of the conversion.
Elaborating on the cost of converting, Mr Mohammed said by realising the income of Tanzanians his company entered into a contract with one of the banks so that those who wanted to lend can get the facility.
“Customers can choose one of the options to pay cash or to lend from the bank where they partner with one of the banks in the country.
“We have a partnership with a bank where they can guarantee a customer and pay in terms of instalment and the required docs is only a car registration card and not any advance payment required,” he said.
He said to install a small 11-cylinder will cost 1.8m/- cash and through a bank 2.060m/- and for a big one which is 15 cylinders the cost is 2.5m/- in terms of cash while lending can pay up to 2.6m/-
Regarding the issue of mileage, Mr Mohammed said the 17,000/- can travel about 150 km to 200 km and 15 cylinders which are full tanks cost 23,000/- and travel up to 250 km.
He said though the price is high, the response has increased in two weeks since it seems fuel is scarce.
Describing the benefits of CNG, Mr Mohammed said it is environment friendly, clean 80 per cent less carbon dioxide and cheap gas which is available in Tanzania.
It will support the economy and Tanzania can be stable in fluctuating prices.
People can enjoy significant cost savings of at least 75 per cent in fuel costs after converting depending on the trip as well as one year guarantee,” said Mr Mohammed.
Mr Mohammed also said after conversion they were leak tested and inspected by the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) to assure the customer safety of his/her cars.
On his part, the Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology (DIT) CNG Manager, Dr Esebi Nyari said there was an increase in the installation of CNG systems in the cars.
“Before we were installing one car per day but now we are installing an average of three per day.
In addition, Dr Nyari said apart from installing CNG systems in cars, they were also able to teach young people how to install the system.
The TPDC sent suggestions through the Ministry of Finance to lower the cost of the conversion equipment to boost gas use.
Anric Gas Technology Marketing Director, Ms Mercy Chilumba said the trend shows that the number of motorists switching from petrol to gas is increasing rapidly at the end of the month when Energy announces the price raise.
Speaking to ‘Daily News’ in Dar es Salaam at the weekend, Ms Chilumba said that for now, they are selling two tonnes per day from two tonnes per week. They are now busy since gas vehicles have increased.
Ms Chilumba said once they get permits from the government by the end of the year, they will be in the position of running three filling stations.
“Since last week I have received a lot of calls wanting to convert their cars. Even today after EWURA announced the new fuel price list for August customers have increased,” said Ms Chilumba.
She said they increased from four to six cars per day.
Now we are focusing on expanding our services by opening two new filling stations at Mkuranga and Dar es Salaam.
Ms Chilumba said in Dar es Salaam they are in the process of looking for an area along Bagamoyo Road.
TPDC Director General Mussa Makame that there are plans to enhance the number of natural gas filling stations for automobiles, including separating Dar es Salaam into four zones with stations in each.
According to Mr Makame, 20 firms have received permits for the construction of stations, including the Egyptian company Taqa Arabia, which plans to erect 12 stations, and the Puma Company, which plans to erect natural gas infrastructure in its stations.
In June, Works and Transport Minister Prof Makame Mbarawa said the government was considering giving subsidies for Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles to encourage the use of the source of energy.
“The government is considering the possibility of introducing a subsidy programme to attract more people to convert their cars to CNG,” he noted.
https://dailynews.co.tz/cng-mother-stations-to-attract-more-investors/
