Artist’s model of the Kiwira coal power project in Tanzania

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania --- ESI-AFRICA-COM --- 28 June 2011 - China is to invest US$400 million in Tanzania’s Kiwira coal power project which will generate an estimated 200MW per annum of electricity.

The update on this development was reported here by the local “Daily News”, citing energy and mines minister William Ngeleja. He said that the Kiwira project had been taken over from private investors by the Tanzanian government. It had a coal deposit of at least 35.14Mt.

The money comes under a soft loan arrangement, the “Daily News” reported. “Five groups, including the state-run National Social Security Fund, applied to run the project before the government accepted China’s offer,” it added.

This is a short-term project. Give it two years and it will be generating 200MW, Ngeleja told reporters on the sidelines of a regional energy conference in the Tanzanian capital.