|
Tanesco, IPTL deal flawed - Ngeleja
2008-07-09 09:45:10
By Hannah Mwandoloma, Dodoma
The government said yesterday that the amount of money that the power utility company, Tanesco, had been paying to the Independent Power Tanzania Limited (IPTL) as capacity charges was more than the actual amount.
Presenting his ministry`s budget estimates for 2008/2009, minister for Energy and Minerals William Ngeleja said according to analysis done by Tanesco, it had been discovered that the genuine equity was 50,000/-.
``This is the core of misunderstanding between Tanesco and IPTL, but the government is in the progress to rectify the situation and find solution involving the relevant institutions,`` said Ngeleja.
He said the decision made by the International Centre for Investment Disputes in 2001 was that capacity charges would be determined by 30 percent of equity and 22.31 percent of profit adding that the equity used was USD 86.54.
On Tanesco revenues, the minister said lack of funds and the increase in operational costs had been a big challenge to the power utility firm as far as production, transportation and electricity distribution is concerned.
He said Tanesco production costs had risen from 96/kWh in 2005 to 120/kWh in 2007, electricity pole prices had gone up from 96,000/- in 2005 to 153,017/- in 2007 for a 10ft pole.
``The high prices have compelled Tanesco to buy poles from outside the country including South Africa, where the price is reasonable,`` said Ngeleja.
Speaking on minerals, Ngeleja said revenue collection in the mineral sector had increased by one percent, adding that government revenue data indicated that mineral contribution to the national coffers had gone up from 2.6 percent in 2006 to 2.7 percent last year.
Presenting views of the Parliamentary Committee on Energy and Minerals, Christopher Ole Sendeka (CCM-Simanjiro) called on the government to give a progress report of implementation of the Tanesco Financial Recovery Plan 2006-2010, noting that the plan would minimize the production costs that the company faced.
He said the government should make sure that Tanesco had enough funds to improve power projects that would be of use when there was an emergency.
Shadow minister for energy and minerals Mohamed Mnyaa (CUF- Mkanyageni) said the government should by all means avoid signing dubious contracts which would cause loss to both Tanesco and the government.
He said the total sale of all minerals outside the country in 2007 was about USD 886.5m compared to USD 836.8m in 2006.
Ngeleja urged the House to endorse 362,922,265,600/- for his ministry.
|
