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Many people caught up in energy use dilemma
2008-05-11 11:10:27
By Imani Lwinga
Environmental activists may be smiling due to scarcity of charcoal, a source of energy widely used in many urban and rural areas, with producers blaming multiple taxes and other charges imposed on it as well as haulage obstacles -that together raise costs immensely.
But mostly affected are the ordinary people who have been relying on charcoal for cooking. The product has for years remained the only affordable source of energy for domestic use as the price of kerosene- the other option, remains high alongside a world-wide oil price surge.
The elite are now switching to the use of gas stoves -an energy use that is gaining prominence at the expense of costly electricity, kerosene and charcoal.
Initially, gas stoves were highly feared as unsafe due to leakages that led to fire outbreaks whose consequences included deaths and damage to property.
``It`s much better using these stoves than any of the other energy sources. It\'s only expensive the first time one buys the equipment, but more affordable as you only fill gas into the cylinder,`` said Steven Julius, who started using a gas stove some three months ago.
Analysts believe that making charcoal expensive is a tactic aimed at discouraging tree-cutting.
The fourth phase government is committed to curbing tree cutting for charcoal production as well as the export of logs.
However, as these measures are being imposed, not everybody can afford a gas stove. A stove is selling at between 60,000/- and 180,000/- depending on the size of the gas cylinder.
Most families can`t afford the cost. ``Initially, we faced difficulties in selling this product. It was agonizing because almost every person we approached did not show any interest.
Many told us it was dangerous to keep a gas cylinder at home, particularly those with children. Now they have understood,`` said Alice Lameck, a sales executive with a company that trades in gas stoves in Dar es Salaam.
But people are confused, not knowing an affordable alternative source of energy. Charcoal used to sell at 15,000/- per sack a few months ago, but the prices shot up quickly after the rain season sometime in March to 23,000/- and 28,000/- a sack.
Now a sack of charcoal has reached 35,000/- to 40,000/-, driving out a significant number of users who are now taking rather bitter decisions, switching to some other limited alternative energy.
``We face a string of taxes imposed on charcoal from where we get it far into countryside, to where we sell it to the final consumer.
Yet, we spend huge sums of money to pay for loading the cargo into trucks parked three kilometers away from the source of charcoal due to impenetrable roads,`` says Nico Lyimo, a charcoal trader.
Lyimo said he spends roughly 3,000/- to ferry a sack of charcoal from the source to where the truck is and there was no option but to pass those costs onto the consumer.
Multiple taxes also add costs as the central government, district council, village government each demand their cut.
When transport costs are added, the prices are pushed to very high levels. This week, the pump price of kerosene reached 1,400/- a litre up from 800/- and 1,000/- a litre.
This was a major blow to people who switched to kerosene as charcoal became more expensive.
Most Tanzanians cannot afford electricity for cooking either, restricting its use to relatively simple functions like lighting bulbs and operating television sets.
Activists have been exerting pressure on the government to impose a ban on the use of charcoal and introduce alternative energy use in a drive to put off the excessive cutting of trees which has been cited as a major cause to environmental ruin.
``This is the cost of the so called environmental protection that we all have to pay,`` lamented Elly Mushumbushi jokingly as he looked for charcoal to buy.
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