At a recent banquet organized in Lusaka to strengthen relations between Tanzania and Zambia, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete accepted the requested by his Zambian counterpart Edgard Lungu to sell natural gas to his neighboring country.
During the meeting the two head of states empathized the importance of the Joint Permanent Commission to foster bilateral relations between the two countries.
They also reminded the importance of joint projects such as the Tanzania-Zambia Railways Authority (TAZARA) and the Tanzania-Zambia Oil Pipeline (TAZAMA) and the additional economic benefits they would reach by strengthening them.
Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) current natural gas estimates reserves stands at 46.5 trillion cubic feet.
Based on the positive ongoing deep offshore gas exploration activities, TPDC expects gas reserves to reach 200 trillion cubic feet until 2017.
In 2014 The Governments of Tanzania, Zambia and Kenya signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to fund a USD 1.2 billion power inter-connector project that will connect the Eastern African Power Pool (EAPP) to the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP).
The Zambia-Kenya-Tanzania (ZTK) power interconnector project is scheduled to be launched at the end of 2015 or in early 2016 and is expected to be completed by December 2018.
