BY DAMAS MAKANGALE, DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA
The Tanzanians national giant development firm,
National Development Corporation (NDC) plans to invest $ 4 billion in its first
unique soda ash extraction plant in the Engaruka basin in the north of Tanzania
with an annual rate of 1.9 million cubic meters that expects to generate
thousands of employment.
Speaking to the East African Business Week in Dar es
Salaam last week, said that they
have decided to extend time for interested bidders in Engaruka soda ash project
until October 10, 2014.
He said that NDC has accepted to extend submission
time after receiving a number of requests from interested bidders.
‘We received a number of requests from bidders
wanting more time, we agreed to extend the time to give them more room for the
project,’ he said.
He said that the giant national development firm
expect to procure the startegic partner by October to pave the way for the
cosntruction by the end of this year.
Ngapemba underscored that the exploration was
carried by two local firms in three years from 2010 to 2013 to start the
project in two areas of geophysics and exploitation modalities.
He further said that the exploration start was
carried out by O.X Holding and J.S.C Services firm who are the local mining and
exploration companies that was given a task to evaluate resources and the
quality of basin in the Engaruka.
Ngapemba noted that the Engaruka basin is the unique
project that expects to generate employment of Tanzanians as it has the
conservation estimation of more than 540 years to come.
The Engaruka basin, located 190km northwest of
Arusha is endowed with huge underground deposits of soda ash, raising
Tanzania’s profile as one of the sodium carbonate-rich countries in the world.
According to the results of a drilling exploration,
it has been established that the Engaruka basin has an estimated 4.7 billion
cubic metres of brine.
As a result,
Tanzania has mandated NDC to fast track utilisation of this resource for
creation of a base for development of chemical industries in the country.
Ngapemba said that with the Engaruka basin soda ash
project, Tanzania’s economy would get a huge boost as it could potentially
generate nearly $300 million in revenue per year.
Soda ash is an essential ingredient in the
manufacture of all kinds of glass, production of detergents, industrial
chemicals for water treatment, paper industries and petroleum refining.
According to Ngapemba Tanzan is positioned to become
the largest soda ash producer in Africa following the discovery of the Enagruka
basin.
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