TZ does not have black billionaires
everything there is owners by Yemeni and Indian birrioeas
At last…
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Aren’t these the same bastards harassing Kenyans for work permits?? A while back they banned a Kenyan from being Vodacom CEO. These Tanzanian bastards wamezoea Kenyans as their beggars roll all over town. Konyagi has been spineless for too long.
Wacha aje…gas should not be a luxury but very cheap and basic…if he will come and disrupt the market namkaribisha.
Ohuru welcomed him to invest in 2017 but the then energy minister Keteri and his master jambaz were demanding 50% shares of his company. Same thing happened with dangote cement and jambaz.
Nothing different with what kirubi was doing and it isn’t really illegal. A foreigner starting a company in kenya has to ensure some form of kenyan ownership in his company. If you are in a position of power you take advantage and be the first to act.
Kenya has frozen plans by a Tanzanian billionaire to set up a gas plant and storage facilities at the Mombasa port, threatening a trade spat between the two neighbouring countries.
The Energy regulator has declined to clear the application by Taifa Gas, which is owned by tycoon Rostam Aziz, citing risks to the environment posed by the 30,000-ton gas handling facility.
The entry of the business magnate, who was ranked the first dollar billionaire in Tanzania by Forbes in 2013, promised a vicious battle for control of the Kenyan cooking gas market that remains under the tight leash of Mombasa-based tycoon, Mohamed Jaffer.
The entry of Taifa Gas into Kenya is part of a trade deal between the countries signed between Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Tanzania’s Samia Suluhu last year.
The regulatory licence freeze risks reigniting the trade spat between Kenya and Tanzania that saw Dar es Salaam block Kenyan goods from accessing its market.
The billionaires’ fight pitting Mr Jaffer and Mr Aziz, 57, was expected to cut the cost of handling and evacuating cooking gas from the ships to the mainland, allowing dealers to transfer the cost relief to consumers.
Just like Mr Jaffer, Mr Aziz has invested in building political networks that saw him serve as MP and treasurer of the ruling party-- Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM).
[COLOR=rgb(184, 49, 47)]Mr Aziz’s ambitions to establish a presence in Kenya’s retail cooking gas business looked set to trigger another market fight with oil dealers such as Vivo, Rubis and Total for control of the 2.87 million households (23.9 percent of Kenyan households) that use liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for cooking.
“We did not clear their Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) because of certain technical deficiencies. The EIA had some technical deficiencies which we want them to address before we consider their application further,” the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) said in a response to Business Daily queries.
The regulator did not disclose the technicalities linked to Taifa Gas, which is the largest gas retailer in Tanzania and has more than 30 LPG handling plants.
Taifa Gas wants to build the 30,000-ton Kenya facility at the Special Economic Zone in Dongo Kundu, near the Port of Mombasa.
It will join Jaffer’s firm, Africa Gas and Oil Ltd (AGOL), in the short list of firms that operate gas handling and storage at major entry ports in Africa.
AGOL has a storage capacity of 25,000 tonnes of LPG following an upgrade last year of the facility initially built in 2013.
The plant was built to allow for bulk imports of cooking gas to lower unit costs through economies of scale and curb shortages, which had been made difficult by the smaller import terminal at Shimanzi.
It had a storage capacity of 10,000 tonnes and the 25,000 tonnes unit is ranked among the largest terminals in sub-Saharan Africa.
The import handling and storage unit has helped relieve demand pressures through reduction of stock-outs, effectively easing pressure on LPG prices.
Previously, the oil marketers imported cooking gas individually in small quantities due to inadequate gas discharge facilities.
This led to cooking gas shortages and expensive LPG due to high import premiums and demurrage, which are penalties marketers pay shipping companies when tankers fail to offload in the stipulated time period.
The Shimanzi terminal has a capacity of just 1,400 metric tonnes.
The tankers would queue for up to two months, leaving the marketers with a daily fee of $20,000 (Sh1.7 million).
[COLOR=rgb(209, 72, 65)]Private companies have been angling to benefit from the growing use of cooking gas in Kenya in the absence of investments by the government via import and storage facilities.
This is the reason the wealthy Mr Aziz is seeking a piece of Kenya’s gas market.
Mr Aziz facilitated Vodacom South Africa’s entry into Tanzania, and previously owned an estimated 35 percent stake in Vodacom Tanzania.
In 2019, he concluded the sale of the last tranche of his Vodacom Tanzania shares in deals that saw him pockets billions of shillings.
Apart from his shareholding in Vodacom Tanzania, he built a fortune from stakes in contract mining firm Caspian Mining, extensive real estate in Tanzania and the Middle East and investments in Tanzanian media.
He has been vocal about hurdles placed on his bid to enter the Kenyan market.
“Tanzania and Kenya potentially can be much bigger than they are. Unfortunately, we’re bogged down by petty politics, protectionism, inward-looking and trivial issues that impede economic development,” Mr Aziz said at a conference in Nairobi last year.
He was Tanzania’s first dollar billionaire (worth over Sh120 billion) and is still one of the country’s leading businessmen and power brokers.
Tanzania has a GDP of $62 billion. Kenya has a GDP of $100 billion. Tanzania has more USD billionaires than Kenya. That means the likes of Rostam and Dewji and a few others control the entire economy. When 10 guys control the economy, even their president is just an errand boy/girl.
Huku Kenya there are more wealthy people and the wealth is more evenly distributed. Instead of 10 guys, there are like 150 guys running the show but with smaller net worths. Therefore, unlike Tanzania, Kenya is a much harder market to corner because you can’t pay off just one person and get away with it. That’s why the local elite are able to easily frustrate Rostam who is used to having his way in Tanzania.
Check these stats:
Tanzania is ranked seventh in terms of those with a net worth of $10 million (Sh23bn/-) or more. Tanzania has 80 such individuals, behind Ghana (120) Morocco (220) Kenya (340) Nigeria (510), Egypt (880) and South Africa (2,080).
Tanzania is ranked sixth in terms of the population of individuals with a net worth of at least $100 million (Sh230bn/-).
There are eight such individuals behind Kenya (15) Morocco (22), Nigeria (28), Egypt (57) and South Africa (94).
It’s basically a battle of interests between 340 Kenyans and 80 Tanzanians. Even in the $100M level, its still 15 Kenyans versus 8 Tanzanians. That’s why its hard for their 8 bigshots to have their way here.
who are the 10 guys in Tanzania?
That news article says there are 8 people in TZ worth over $100M. Rostam, Dewji and a few others who are mostly Indians.
names?
[SIZE=6]Inside Kenya’s LPG juggernaut[/SIZE]
FRIDAY JULY 22 2022
https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/resource/image/3887896/landscape_ratio16x9/1160/652/431cd5a2bdc0efef8b5ebfb650483837/hm/gas.jpg
Are we about to witness a vicious billionaires brawl pitting Tanzania’s Rostam Aziz and Mombasa tycoon Mohammed Jaffer over control of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) market in Kenya?
In May last year, Mr Aziz who was in Kenya as part of a delegation of business people accompanying President Samia Suluhu Hassan in her maiden visit, narrated a harrowing experience he endured as he tried to invest $130 million in an LPG terminal in Kenya.
At a workshop attended by top State officials, he said that his company, Taifa Gas, had faced multiple bottlenecks and found it difficult to move after knocking one government door after another for three years — even after receiving assurances and support from President Uhuru Kenyatta.
A few weeks later, reports in the media were saying Taifa Gas had been given the green light.
However, the indications are that the project is still facing regulatory hurdles.
A source from the National Environment Management Authority told me on Thursday the environmental risk assessment for this project is work in progress.
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A story in this newspaper on Thursday said the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) had declined to clear the application on technical grounds.
Apparently, Epra is insisting on a comprehensive quality risk assessment, including details such ‘blast profile’ of the plant and details on the route which the pipeline transporting gas from the jetty in Dongo Kundu to the terminal will follow.
Two pertinent questions arise. First, is the regulator merely being difficult by invoking arcane rules and procedures to block Taifa?
Secondly, are these the instincts of a regulator trying to maintain the status quo by protecting the market for the incumbents? I don’t have answers to both. But, on the face of it, the regulator’s concerns about safety would appear to be legitimate. We saw what happened in Lebanon where a blast at a fertiliser plant cleared almost one quarter of the city.
Secondly, trends would appear to suggest that the regulator has been liberal in opening the market.
Ola, the oil marketer, has only recently been issued with a licence to develop an LPG terminal plant in Shimanzi. Lake Gas Oil has a licence to set up in Kilifi.
Until recently, the African Gas Oil Terminal (Agol) linked to Jaffer Mohammed — with a capacity to handle and store 30,000 metric tonnes of cooking gas — appeared to have a dominant position.
But its advantage was severely chipped away following the completion last year of the new Kipevu Oil terminal that for the first time provided facilities for handling large LPG vessels.
Built by the Chinese at $385 million, this facility is bound to be the game-changer in the LPG business.
The cooking gas market in Kenya is bubbling with activity, liberalising at a fast rate — and evolving into a market with multiple players.
Epra has lately found itself inundated with applications by investors seeking licences and approval to build LPG terminals and storage facilities around Mombasa and in upcountry markets.
Consider the following statistics: National consumption was at 93,000 metric tonnes in 1992. In 2020, consumption hit 320,000 metric tonnes.
In 2012, there were only nine LPG filling plants in the country. Today, the number has grown to 105.
The exponential growth in the sector is also reflected in growth of the number of LPG brand owners: from nine in 2009 to 82 today.
Indeed, investment activity in the market segment has progressed to a level where we are now going into what is called LPG reticulation — namely, networks where LPG is supplied to individual flats from a centralised store as opposed to using the conventional gas cylinder.
Two years ago, the State-owned National Oil Corporation signed a memorandum with the Toyota Tshusho Group to pilot a reticulation system. A Toyota Tsusho study found that LPG consumer prices in Kenya were more expensive by at least 30 percent compared to Asia.
My take: only investment in bigger LPG terminals and stores will drive consumer prices in a sustainable way.
https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/bd/opinion/columnists/inside-kenya-s-lpg-juggernaut-3887894
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It’s nice to see Rostam behind Ruto
Hopefully, Ruto will help him where Uhuru couldnt
Not sure how Kenya’s billionaires who feel threatened by him
One of newspaper in Uk once called Rostam as King maker. The man knows how play with people with power.
Own gas plant in Tanzania, Tigo mobile operator, Taifa tannaniries, part of Dar es Salaam port, gold mine in Congo, Caspian construction (one of the largest mine contractor in Africa)
Favour a foreigner since he financed your campaigns.
So ruto anajenga his own dynasty by inviting foreign dynasties to destroy our established dynasties.
pretty much
At last, RUTO delivered…!
AFRICA’S LARGEST GAS STORAGE FACILITY
@WilliamsRuto
has asked Rostam to increase the capacity of Taifa Gas storage facility in Kenya from 30,000MT ($130m) to 45,000MT ($200m), making it the largest storage facility in Africa. Headquarters will remain in Dar es Salaam.
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