Although there are many oil and gas companies eyeing Zanzibar for the resources, the government will not issue any licence for exploration ...
Although there are many oil and gas companies eyeing Zanzibar for the resources, the government will not issue any licence for exploration until the issue of oil and gas from the list of Union matters is fully resolved, the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Settlement, Water and Energy, Mr. Ali Khalil Mirza said.
He said that officials from both Zanzibar and Union government, led by the attorney general (AG) had discussed the possibilities of removing oil and gas from the list of Union matters. "Fortunately the draft of the new Union Constitution is also proposing separate ownership of natural resources in each country."
Oil and gas remain a contentious issue for Zanzibaris including members of the Zanzibar House of Representatives. They demand that oil and gas issues be separated from Union matters. In 2009 the House of Representatives declared that natural gas was not a Union matter.
According to Mr. Mirza, as Zanzibaris awaits for official autonomy on natural resources, the government is currently reinforcing the oil and gas sector through capacity building.
The effort involves training its manpower and carrying out structural reform of the Energy and Mineral Department. In the small Isles the new structure would include an Oil and Gas Division that will later be transformed into an oil and gas agency.
"The government is concentrating on training future oil and gas experts. The objective is to have an operational oil and gas division at department level by next calendar year and a fully operational agency by 2020," said Mr. Mirza.
The effort also aims at controlling the petroleum products market in Zanzibar. "ZURA will regulate economic (pricing) and technical (quality standards) components of the market. The idea is to make the performance of the sector competitive in the country and the region in general," he said.
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