By ADAM IHUCHA -- Tanzania is engaging the UK to resume
British Airways to offer investors a hassle free direct flight to the country
in the wake of discovery of gas.
Blaming failure to operate profitably, the BA terminated
its services culminating nearly four decades of connecting the two traditional
partner states.
“The Britons and the Tanzanians are coming so close in
terms of business in the wake of gas discoveries, so we are in talks with UK to
return BA operations” says Foreign Affairs Minister, Bernard Membe.
Indeed, U.K, a Tanzania’s colonial master is a leading in
terms of investments, and Mr Membe believes that it was in the best interests
of the former for its airline to resume operations.
“Its my conviction that BA ought to come back as this
would boost close tie between UK and Tanzanian businesses” he stressed.
In the gas sector, there are two major UK companies
operating in Tanzania namely, BG and Ophir and Mr Membe says that the two firms
have pumped $1 billion since 2010 and expects to add nearly $5.1 billion
investments in few years.
In 2013 statistics from the Tanzania Investment Centre
(TIC) indicate that the UK is leading in Foreign Direct Investment to Tanzania,
at 35 per cent, followed by China at 15 per cent.
Two British companies, Ophir and British Gas (BG), signed a
memorandum of understanding with the government along with other joint venture
partners, Statoil and Exxon Mobil, to construct an LNG plant in southern
Tanzania estimated at up to $40 billion.
BG shares alone in the project is up to $15 billion. The
significance of the MoU is to solve the issues of land allocation and
compensation to local communities.
Massive discoveries of offshore gas have been made in recent
years in Tanzania, with estimated reserves currently at 53.2 trillion cubic
feet (tcf) and rising.
The US Geological Survey estimates that well over 440 tcf may
lie off East Africa’s coast. Many are labelling Tanzania as a new African
energy frontier.
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