ZANZIBAR President Dr Hussein Ali Mwinyi has indicated that Zanzibar can sell oil and gas products to needy countries in the neighbourhood.

Gracing the inauguration of the first liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) terminal at the port in North Unguja Region, the president urged companies to chip in and build more supporting infrastructure including oil and gas depots at the port.

The Oryx Energies terminal will facilitate LPG supply in a reliable and seamless manner to the Zanzibar population, he said, highlighting wider use of the new port facilities.

The government expects to see enough oil and gas storage reserves for sale to firms that can use Zanzibar port instead of going abroad, based in nearby countries.

 Gas firms need to put in place robust strategies to help reduce costs of gas to enable people to access the product easily, he said, explaining that Mangapwani area was designated as an oil and gas tank farm.

It will ease loading and transfer of fuel and gas products, so it is important for stakeholders to back the efforts by constructing sufficient terminals, he stated.

The port will have berths for liquid bulk goods, containers, fishing vessels and natural gas offshore services, along with backup infrastructure for rehabilitating marine vessels, he stated.

Building Mangapwani port is a solution to problems at Malindi port, but due to a higher pace of economic activities port capacity is already inadequate, he said, satisfied that with the new terminal, big ships will be able to dock, using shorter duration in offloading.

The terminal shall similarly stimulate the use of clean cooking energy, uplifting wider national strategy of bringing 80 percent of households to use clean energy by 2032, he further noted.

Benoît Araman, the Oryx Energies (T) managing director, applauded Zanzibar government efforts to create a good environment for doing business. It had solved challenges faced by businessmen, with Mangapwani as the first successful LPG terminal.

The terminal commenced operations early last month, storing 1,300 tonnes of LPG and received its first shipment of 1,200 tonnes on May 2, he said.

The local gas market has witnessed an increase in imports from abroad more than tenfold from the last decade, from 20,000 tonnes in 2010 to 293,000 tonnes last year, he elaborated.

Shuwekha Khamis, the firm’s Zanzibar franchise general manager, said the firm has teamed up with TP Co. Ltd, a local subsidiary of the Vigor Turky Group to strengthen LPG supply and distribution in the Isles.

Salim Turky, chairman of Vigor Group said the initiative will help improve standards of health and welfare in Zanzibar. It will also help protect the environment by providing a safe and reliable alternative to charcoal and wood, he asserted.

The wider plan is to reduce gas prices in Zanzibar by 20 percent by July 1 and later by up to 30 percent of current prices, he affirmed, while Omar Ali Yusuf, the Zanzibar Utilities Regulatory Authority (ZURA) director general, said that reliance on Malindi port has ended.

“Before construction of the multipurpose port at Mangapwani, we used to use small boats and other vessels which are not safe to transport oil but now with this port, the situation has changed,” he added.