Uganda, Tanzania select gas pipeline consultantUganda, Tanzania select gas pipeline consultant – The Observer
Uganda and Tanzania have selected a consultant to undertake a feasibility study for the construction of a gas pipeline between the two countries.
The selection of the consultant comes more than a year after the government of Uganda issued a bid inviting participants to take interest in the proposed project. At the moment, the Solicitor General is reviewing an application for the award of a contract to a consultant that Uganda has chosen.
The Solicitor General is expected to make that decision any time from now, with the consultant set to start work this quarter. The gas pipeline route will form part of a package of oil and gas infrastructure between Uganda and Tanzania.
Already, a 1,443km crude oil pipeline is being laid. Earlier discussions for Tanzania to take a stake in Uganda’s proposed oil refinery project have cooled off, although not entirely written off.
The feasibility study from the consultant is expected to draw up a new route, a departure from the earlier suggestion for the gas pipeline to move side-by-side with the crude oil pipeline to avoid land compensation disputes.
However, the two countries agreed that the gas pipeline have a separate route of its own, and one closer to communities to easily tap into the gas. Many financial institutions continue to steer clear of oil and gas projects as part of their policy of not funding projects with a perceived threat to the environment.
