Posted on :Monday , 8th August 2016

In East Africa, the government of Tanzania is set to undertake an environmental impact assessment (EIA) in late August for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project valued at $30 billion.

According to local media the BusinessWeek, global energy solutions firm BG Group has partnered with the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) to erect the power plant. The site identified by government for the LNG project is situated at Likong'o Village in the Lindi Region.

TPDC principal petroleum engineer Modestus Lumato disclosed to the media that the EIA is anticipated to commence soon and will be undertaken parallel to the Development Report Induction Plan.

He stated that the two studies, which will be conducted over a period of three months would determine whether it is viable to develop the project at the identified site.

“We expect to finalise the implementation of the primary investigations by the end of this year. After the EIA is completed we will then start compensating people whose land will be taken,” Lumato said.

According to the media, there are reports showing that TPDC owns a title deed for 2,071.705 hectares for construction of the project.

What the EIA entails

It is reported that the assessments will be divided into two segments. The first study being known as the Free Front End Engineering Design, which would be followed by the Front End Engineering Design (FEED). The FEED will mostly entail an engineering design approach to control project expenses.

Lumato explained that the completion of the FEED process is important to determine the outcome of the project before jumping in for the final investment decision in order to commence with construction.

LNG expertise

The media reported that until two years ago, it was anticipated that the development of this project would create over 10,000 new direct jobs and thousands more indirectly.

However, as the country is said to lack sufficient human resource capacity in developing this project, as such there is a risk that local skills will loose out to competitors from outside the country.

According to the media there are currently very limited numbers of engineering, construction and procurement firms that specialise in building LNG plants in Tanzania.