The entry of Tanzanian Taifa Gas Investments into the Kenyan Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, industry is anticipated to cause an unprecedented shake-up in the market.
The company is expected to bring to life healthy competition in the sector, owing to the low price with which it distributes the resource. Taifa gas sells a complete 6-kg gas cylinder at Tsh. 40 000 (about Ksh. 2010).
The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) has hinted at giving license to the firm owned by Tanzanian tycoon Rostam Aziz, whose permit to operate was previously halted by the authority.
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The move will come as a reprieve to Kenyan consumers who have been grappling with the ever-rising cost of the commodity due to monopoly.
EPRA announced letting Taifa enter the lucrative business after President William Ruto held bilateral talks with his Tanzania counterpart Samia Suluhu on Monday, October 10.
The president also stated that the two governments would collaborate to expedite the construction of the gas pipeline from the Mtwara gas plant to Mombasa and later Nairobi, a project that has been pending for over a year.
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“We will expedite the gas pipeline from Dar es Salaam to Mombasa and eventually to Nairobi so that we can use the resources that we have in our to lower energy tariffs both for commercial and domestic use in Kenya,” said President Ruto.
The Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, that provided for the pipeline’s construction was signed by President Suluhu and former Kenyan head of state Uhuru Kenyatta.
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