Kenya and Tanzania have signed an agreement to start working on a Dar es Salaam-Mombasa gas pipeline. At a joint Press conference in Nairobi, the visiting Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan and her Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta said they had agreed to build more interconnecting infrastructure, starting with a gas pipeline and roads. This is part of a long-term project to share energy resources.

The MoU on Cooperation in Natural Gas Transportation means respective Ministers of Energy can start negotiating the design, cost and other logistical needs for the pipeline to be built. This will enhance “energy sufficiency” with Kenya keen on importing gas from Tanzania’s nascent plant.

“That is a long-term project and we are thankful that today we have signed an agreement and what remains is implementation. We have agreed on the need to ease the transportation of key energy resources and we have reached one such understanding on the transportation of gas. What we need to do now is start implementing the Dar es Salaam-Mombasa gas pipeline project,” said president Suluhu Hassan.

Strengthening connectivity

President Kenyatta said the two countries also agreed to strengthen their connectivity through new roads, aviation and maritime transport with an aim of boosting economic growth.

“We will strengthen aviation, railway, sea and lake transport as well as roads. We also discussed the need to hasten the construction of the Malindi-Lungalunga-Bagamoyo Road to ease movement of goods and people,” he said.

“We also agree that we will work on resumption of transportation services on Lake Victoria, which were useful in the movement of people and goods from Jinja to Kisumu and to Mwanza and Bukoba,” added president Kenyatta.