04-01-01 The World Bank is expected to provide Tanzania with $ 200 mm for the final phase of a natural gas transmitting project, which will bring gas from the southern Lindi Region to supply users. Tanzania is expected to conclude negotiations with the World Bank on the completion of the final phase of the Songo Songo project which started in 1995, the report said.
The project will involve the construction of a total of 232 km of underground and underwater pipelines from the gas-field at Songo Songo Island in Lindi, an Indian Ocean coastal region, to Dar es Salaam to provide fuel for a major thermal power plant and other industrial users.

"We submitted volumes of documents on the project to the World Bank, and all that is left is for the Ministry of Finance to conclude the deal," Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Energy and Minerals Patrick Rutabanzibwa was quoted as saying.
According to the report, once the project is finished, the five liquid fuel turbines at the 112-MW Ubungo power plant will be converted to gas and the power generated by the plant will be feed directly into the national grid.
The project is expected to alleviate power crisis in the eastern African country by reducing its dependence on imported oil for electric power generation and provide alternative, lower-cost and more reliable power source.