Daily News: How Ready Is Dar es Salaam to Reap From the Gas Boom

THE country's preparedness for the imminent gas economy was the main subject that dominated discussions during the breakfast meeting in Dar es Salaam over the weekend on the best use of natural gas discoveries in the southern regions of Lindi and Mtwara.

The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) and Rex Attorneys, a city based law firm, co-hosted the meeting as part of a series of such discussions to strategise on maximisation of benefits from the newly discovered resources that are likely to fast track the country into a middle economy by 2025.

"We were not ready for the mining boom and it seems we're still not yet ready for the gas economy... and that explains why there are concerns over the country being shortchanged in the mining sector," observed one participant to the meeting that involved members of the media as well.

Tanzania is estimated to have 42 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of recoverable natural gas reserves in the southern regions. Discoveries offshore of Tanzania and Mozambique's waters have led to predictions that the region could become the world's third-largest exporter of natural gas. And as expected, investments are already soaring. MORE