SOUTHEAST AFRICA
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
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SOUTHEAST AFRICA
MOZAMBIQUE
China to fund Mozambican railway project
The Moatize-Macuse Railway Logistics Corridor, currently the largest infrastructure project in Mozambique, will be financed exclusively by Chinese capital through public banks targeting Africa, and China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation( Sinosure), based in Beijing. This is according to the newsletter, China-Lusophone Brief( CLBrief).
The project has reached its final stage, with the launch scheduled for 2019 and completion in 2022. The World Bank, through the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency( MIGA), covers the political risk of such an investment. According to CLBrief, the 639km railway will transport coal from the mines of Moatize and Chitima in Tete to a new floating coal terminal off the coast at Macuse, Zambezia, just north of Quelimane.
The consortium is led by Thai Mozambique Logistica( TML), a subsidiary of the Ital-Thai Development( ITD) of Thailand, which won the project in 2013, and holds 60 % of the capital. Mota Engil Mozambique and China National Complete Engineering Corporation, a subsidiary of the China Machinery Engineering Corporation, are the signed contractors in charge of the project. Local owners with 20 % each are Mozambique railways( Caminhos de Ferro de Mocambique, or CFM) and the Corredor de Desenvolvimento Integrado do Zambeze( Codiza).
Coal prices have doubled since their low two years ago, reaching USD100 / t for thermal coal and USD175 / t for coking coal. Most coal is now exported via Nacala along a railway that is almost twice as long as the proposed Macuse line. The shorter Macuse line will cut transport costs substantially.
New rail link in Mozambique could make coal exports viable.
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
Sub-Saharan Africa to benefit from USD175bn gas project
US companies have launched an initiative that will invest USD175-billion in gas power projects in nine African countries, namely South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Côte d’ Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Angola, and Mozambique. It is part of the Power Africa Initiative with gas resources existing in 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
The countries were selected for their relatively large populations, their level of gross domestic product, and because they either have local gas resources( in operation or under development) or are planning liquefied natural gas( LNG) import projects.
The initiative is known as the Gas Roadmap for sub- Saharan Africa. It seeks to add some 16 000MW of gasfired power in the nine countries by 2030. The initiative is at a preliminary stage, with allotments from the planned investment not having yet been agreed.
“ A key ingredient in Africa’ s energy mix is, and will continue to be, clean natural gas. Natural gas and LNG projects have the potential to generate essential electricity quickly and at reasonable prices,” wrote Rick Perry, US Secretary of Energy, in the Power Africa Gas Roadmap to 2030 strategy report.
Tanzania will benefit disproportionately, according to reports, because its gas fields, together with those of Mozambique, account for 62 % of total contingent resources in Africa. With Tanzania’ s proven natural gas reserves standing at 57 trillion cubic feet, the country envisages a larger role for natural gas in the future energy mix, with gas-fired power plant capacity anticipated to grow from 1 501MW in 2015 to 4 915MW in 2040, according to the country’ s power master plan.
Last April, the Tanzanian government inaugurated a USD345-million natural gas-powered plant at Kinyerezi, near Dar es Salaam. It has capacity to generate 168MW. Other projects at Kinyerezi are in the pipeline, with a possible capacity of more than 600MW.
Tanzania’ s current power generation capacity is 1 311MW of which hydro-generated power is 562MW and thermal gas and diesel generation is 749MW. According to the roadmap, the US government interventions will focus on addressing the constraints related to gas projects in sub- Saharan Africa.
These include the availability of gas from both a source and a delivery method perspective; financial strength of offtakers of power and gas; lag in downstream infrastructure, such as power transmission; and distribution capacity and the various markets’ ability to absorb power and gas.
12- CEC October 2018