Tanzania Plans Gas Pipelines to Kenya, Uganda, DR Congo

Tanzania is planning new natural gas pipeline connections to Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, its Minister for Energy, Deogratius Ndejembi, said yesterday in Dar es Salaam, as African countries met to discuss stronger cross-border energy links.

Ndejembi spoke at the Africa50 General Shareholders Meeting and Infra for Africa Forum. He said the planned pipelines would improve energy access, support industrial growth and build economic cooperation across the region.

He said Tanzania is already building a 74-kilometre natural gas pipeline linking the Madimba Gas Processing Plant in Mtwara Region to neighbouring Mozambique. The new pipelines to Kenya, Uganda and DR Congo would extend this network further across East and Southern Africa.

Gas as a regional asset

Ndejembi called on African countries to build shared energy infrastructure instead of planning only within their own borders. He said the continent's large natural gas reserves could improve energy access, power industries and support economic development if countries work together.

"As Africans, we should not work in isolation. We should collaborate and develop infrastructure projects that are bankable, scalable and provide access to one another as a continent," Ndejembi said.

He said gas should not be treated only as a product for export. "We have vast gas resources, but we should not treat that commodity as an export commodity only. We need to connect with ourselves," he said.

Ndejembi said the planned projects, once complete, would improve electricity generation, support manufacturing and encourage investment by giving countries a reliable energy supply across their borders.

West Africa's own gas network

Nigeria's Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, told delegates that gas infrastructure is already changing energy access and industrial development in West Africa. He said Nigeria supplies gas to Ghana, Togo and Benin Republic, and that preparations are underway for a larger pipeline network extending to Morocco.

"Today Nigeria transports gas to Ghana, Togo and the Benin Republic," Ekpo said.

He said West African Heads of State signed an agreement last month between national oil companies for gas to travel from Nigeria along the Atlantic coast to more than 12 countries on the way to Morocco. He said countries along the route would use the gas for power generation, fertiliser production and local industry.

Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, Wamkele Mene, said infrastructure alone would not achieve regional integration. He said pipelines, roads and ports need to be backed by common trade rules that allow energy, manufactured goods and farm produce to move freely across African markets.

"If you have a domestic supply of energy and you are able to export, that will happen on the basis of trade rules," Mene said.

Tanzania's pipeline to Mozambique already links the country to a neighbouring gas market. The planned extensions to Kenya, Uganda and DR Congo would connect Tanzania to three more countries, placing it at the centre of a wider East African gas network alongside Nigeria's West African pipeline project to Morocco.