Worley Parsons Resources and Energy was the consulting engineer for the mega US $1.22 billion dollars project which was undertaken by China Petroleum and Technology Development Company (CPTDC).
The pipeline was inaugurated last year. “The 30-year provision is a contractual obligation but this period can be extended to 90 years with proper and regular maintenance,” Mr Slowe said in Dar es Salaam yesterday during a meeting to brief stakeholders on implementation of the project.
The expatriate noted on the other hand that no incident had been recorded since the pipeline started transporting natural gas from Mtwara to Dar es Salaam for power generation last year.
“There hasn’t been any report of gas leaking or malfunctioning and this tells that the construction work was well implemented,” Mr Slowe, who worked as Project Manager for the consulting firm, remarked.
He noted further that it is the same contractor who implemented the project that will be conducting maintenance of the conduit, as per contract between the Chinese company and the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC).
At the same occasion, the Acting Managing Director of TPDC, Engineer Kapuulya Musomba, said the corporation has been conducting weekly physical inspections along the pipeline.
“Maintenance and regular inspections are crucial to have the pipeline running; every week a team of experts from TPDC makes close inspections of the infrastructure,” he remarked.
Eng Musomba on the other hand took issues with long public procurement procedures which he said are not suitable for the project. “Something may happen along the pipeline which will require fast response including purchase of materials and equipment but this will be held back by the long procurement process,” the Acting TPDC boss stated. He noted that a total of 150 Tanzanians were part of the construction team and have since then amassed experience in operating the tube.
This was confirmed by Vice General Manager of CPTDC, Mr Zhang Hongwei, who explained that apart from on-job training, the Tanzanians received short courses on supervision and maintenance of the project in China.
“Our (Chinese) experts will remain in Tanzania for the next one year after which everything will be handed by Tanzanians,” Mr Hongwei explained.
The Mtwara-Dar es Salaam pipeline and gas processing plants at Madimba and Songo Songo Islands, largely financed by a Chinese loan, is part of a plan to add about 2,000 megawatts of new gasfired electricity generating power by 2018 to increase Tanzania’s generating capacity to 10,000 MW by 2025. Most new plants will be gas-fired but Tanzania also wants to use coal reserves and renewable resources such as wind and geothermal.
Tanzania estimates it has about 55 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of recoverable natural gas reserves off its southern coastline. Discoveries in Tanzanian and Mozambican waters have led to predictions the region could become the world’s third-largest exporter of natural gas.
The government said it hopes by switching to gasfired power plants to save around $1 billion (about 2.1trl-) a year in oil imports for electricity generation through diesel-fired power plants.
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