TANZANIA TO START OIL AND GAS EXPLORATION IN LAKE TANGANYIKA AND ALSO TO BUILD A MULTIMILLION DOLLARS BUSINESS CENTER AROUND KILIMANJARO AIRPORT
Reports Leo Odera Omolo
Information emerging out of Dr Es Salaam says Tanzania now envisages three multimillion dollars ambitious development program which include the launching of oil exploration in Lake Tanganyika.
Dar seeks to join other East African Community partners nations like Kenya and Uganda, which of late have join the ranks of oil producing African nations.
Tanzania also plans to construct a city around its Kilimanjaro International Airport {KIA} to tap into tourism and business opportunities.
The government, says the report, has secured at least USD300 million to develop a state of the art commercial hub at Dar Es Salaam Port.
It has revealed that an Australian firm Beach Energy Limited has commenced 2D seismic acquisition over its Lake Tanganyika South concession in Tanzania.
The acquisition is being undertaken by Fugro Oceanseismica, and is expected to take approximately two months to acquire and seven months to process and interpret.
“Currently Beach Petroleum [Tanzania limited} has spent approximately USD 11million on its exploration efforts in Tanzania and by the end of 2012 it will be close to USD 18 million,” says Danny Burns, the company’s manager international and new ventures.
The ferry MV Mwongozo was upgraded into a seismic acquisition vessel with the necessary equipment with the on board to check the quality of the 2D seismic data after it is acquired.
Beach Energy through its contractor Fugro Oceansismica Oceansis mica SPA, has a lease agreemen with the owners of the ferry, MSCI, and has already spent more than USD one million refurbishing the vessel.
Burns was also quoted in the local media a saying that Lake Tanganyika is frontier oil and gas exploration area where little data had been collected before Beach Energy commenced exploring in 2010.
It has also been reported that Tanzania has secured at least UYSD 300 million {Tshs471.6 billion} to develop a sate of the art commercial hub at Dar E Salaam port.
The project is funded by Mara Group, a 15 year old Pan-African multi-sector business conglomerate with operations covering Information Technology, Business Process Outsourcing real estate development asset management infrastructure hospitality packaging and media. The group has a presence in 18 African countries and employs more than 4,000 people in its establishment.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Mara Group Mr Ashish Thakkar was quote last week as having said that the project will include the largest retail mall in East Africa, two internationally branded hotels, a modern convention center and a medical tourism hospital.\ The CEO said the facilities will include a modern business park, residential compound, police station and 500 residential units for the policemen.
The project consists of internationally branded hotels one five star and the other three star, and a huge convention centre,” he said adding that there will also be office blocks and service apartments.
According to the CEO Tanzania has a huge gap in the market for high quality integrated mixed use real estate developments?
The project located in Dar es Salaam will offer Tanzanians a modern environment to “live work and play”,and change the face of the City.
The contract for the construction project was signed by the Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs Mbarak Abduwakil, Inspector General of police Said Ally Mwema and the directors of Mara Group Thakkar and Prashant Manek in Oystrabay suburb.
On the envisaged plan to construct a city around its Kilimanjaro International Airport,Tanzania ants to tap into tourism and business opportunities.
Kilimanjaro Airport Development Company {KADCO} is developing a five-year master plan to transform KIA into a modern tourist and duty-free shopping city.
The chairman of the KADCO board of directors Hassan Kibelloh said experts from the company are working on the plan, which will be ready in a few weeks to create a city that can compete with UAE’s Dubai.
He added that apart from the 41-year old air terminal, the KIA area, which lies at the meeting point of the Northern Zone regions of Arusha, Kilimanjaro and Manyara, is a wide stretch of unoccupied land.
“The location is to become a ‘city” at the center of Moshi and Arusha, where prospective investors will establish massive shopping centers, high class tourist hotels, duty free ports,
Export Processing Zones, educational institutions, custom bounded warehouses, curio shops, golf courses and large game ranch,” he said.
“We are now inviting potential investors to establish major ventures in the locality, all roads and international air routes will be leading to Kia, said the board acting managing director Bakari Mrusuri I a recent interview
Ends