Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan and her Kenyan counterpart have signed an agreement to begin work on a gas pipeline that will link Dar es Salaam and Mombasa. At a joint press conference in Nairobi they said they had agreed to build more interconnecting infrastructure, starting with a pipeline and roads. Which, is part of a long-term project to share energy resources.
The Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Natural Gas Transportation means that the respective energy ministers can begin negotiating the design, cost and other logistical needs for the pipeline to be built. This will improve “energy sufficiency” with Kenya interested in importing gas from the nascent Tanzania plant.
“This is a long-term project and we are grateful that today we signed an agreement and what remains is implementation. We have agreed on the need to facilitate the transportation of key energy resources and we have reached an agreement on gas transportation. What we need to do now is to start implementing the Dar es Salaam-Mombasa gas pipeline project,” said President Suluhu Hassan.
President Kenyatta said the two countries also agreed to strengthen their connectivity through new roads, aviation and shipping, with the aim of boosting economic growth.
“We will strengthen air, rail, sea and lake transport, as well as road transport. We also discussed the need to accelerate the construction of the Malindi-Lungalunga-Bagamoyo road to facilitate the movement of goods and people,” he said.
“We also agreed that we will work on the resumption of transport services on Lake Victoria, which were helpful in the movement of people and goods from Jinja to Kisumu and to Mwanza and Bukoba,” President Kenyatta added.
