An oil pipeline running from Tanzania’s commercial capital Dar Es Salaam to the Zambian mining city of Ndola, about 1 349 km away, and costing $1.5-billion, is to be built by both countries to transport refined products between the neighbouring states.
Tanzania Energy Minister Medard Kalemani confirmed the plans on Tuesday when he presented his Ministry’s 2019/20 budget plan in the administrative capital of Dodoma, the East African reported.
Most of Zambia’s petroleum requirements are imported from the Middle East through the port of Dar es Salaam. Zambia is Africa’s top producer of copper.
No time frame has been given as to when construction will begin and neither has the source of funding been confirmed but a feasibility study will be carried out in the coming financial year.
The project is expected to reduce challenges in transporting petroleum products for the countries that use Tanzania’s ports to import fuel.
Tanzania and Zambia already have a crude oil pipeline between them transporting oil to Zambia, where it is refined in Ndola for local use.