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Kenya to Build Mombasa LPG Plant to Eliminate Firewood Use by 2025

© Photo : Twitter / @WilliamsRutoThe ground-breaking ceremony of the Taifa Gas Special Economic Zone Limited in Mombasa County.
The ground-breaking ceremony of the Taifa Gas Special Economic Zone Limited in Mombasa County. - Sputnik International, 1920, 25.02.2023
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Nairobi's energy consumption strategy is focused on the greater adoption of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as a clean cooking solution. To achieve this goal, the country takes both regulatory and practical steps.
Kenyan President William Ruto has launched the construction of a liquefied petroleum gas re-filling plant in Mombasa. The project looks to lower the cost of cooking gas as well as serve other states in the East African region.
According to local media reports, the project costs $130.5 million. It is owned by Tanzania’s largest LPG supply company Taifa Gas, run by Tanzanian businessman Rostam Aziz. The company has the largest distribution, storage and filling plants across Tanzania and is actively expanding and penetrating into other countries in the region.
Earlier this week, Taifa Gas received a license from Kenya to establish an LPG plant and storage facilities at Mombasa port. The project, which includes the building of a 30,000 metric tonne storage facility, will be set up in the Special Economic Zone in Dongo Kundu. The company will build a terminal with 12 LPG spheres, each with a capacity of 2,500 tonnes.
According to the company's Managing Director Veneranda Masoum, the project is expected to create 90,000 direct and indirect jobs. Taifa Gas is also going to invest in other LPG facilities and distribution networks across the country at a cost of $55 million.
President Ruto, who delivered a speech during the ground-breaking ceremony, stated that increasing investment in LPG plants and facilities is crucial to driving consumer prices in a sustainable way, especially at a time when gas prices hit record highs.
"The government is keen on increasing the per capita consumption of LPG at household level. This will be achieved through the development of a common user terminal for LPG at the port of Mombasa and we will implement the open tender system in the importation of LPG to achieve competitive and efficient pricing of the product," the president said.
He also noted that the country has set the objective to reduce households' reliance on firewood, kerosene and charcoal, and accelerate their transition to gas. According to Ruto, the government's plan is to cut the use of dirtier fuels that harm the environment, and embrace "environmentally friendly alternatives."
Therefore, he underlined, public institutions and schools that use firewood as their cooking fuel should switch to LPG by 2025. This plan also includes regulating cooking gas prices aimed at stabilizing the market and lowering costs. In particular, the LPG terminal is expected to eliminate road transport fees, as well as create increased supplier competition.
According to Kenya's Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority, demand for LPG has been maintaining an upward trend for several years with consumption hitting 373,856 metric tonnes in 2021, an increase of 13.7 % from the previous year. A total number of 120 bulk LPG storage facilities are distributed across 25 counties of the country. This increase from the eight facilities in 2012 that can be considered "a reflection of efforts made to improve LPG access to consumers."
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