East African Business Week (Kampala)
Daniel Said
5 May 2008
Dar es Salaam — A Swedish company, SEKAB is working to help Tanzania and Mozambique to become free of their dependence on oil and significantly increasing their production of electric power and exporting several billion litres of ethanol within 20 years.
SEAKAB is a leading European supplier of renewable vehicle fuels and focuses on distribution of bio-ethanol for the northern European market and operation of large-scale ethanol production plants.
The company is now planning and preparing for production of ethanol in Tanzania and Mozambique. With its tropical climate and its unused areas with good access to water, Tanzania has excellent national conditions for growing biomass for electricity and bio-fuels.
To start with, SEKAB has acquired a large piece of land in Bagamoyo, Coast region to plant sugarcane, a major raw material in the production of ethanol.
Mr. Per Carstedt, Chief Executive Officer of SEKAB says; "This is a revolution that intends to strengthen some of the world's weakest economies, and would reduce fossil fuel emissions globally while improving the supply of secure energy."
SEKAB, aiming to support and lead national efforts for bio-fuels through the long-term development of over 400,000 hectares for bio-energy production, expects that the first factories will come online in 2011 and will be followed by many new projects in the following 30 years.
According to SEKAB, the volume of export ethanol would be enough to replace all petrol and diesel for private cars in Sweden and Norway if the vehicles also use plug-in technology.
Both Tanzania and Mozambique have a combined area that is nearly four times the size of Sweden, and nearly 100% of their export income is being eaten up by imported petroleum bill.
Sugarcane is the simplest and most cost-effective raw material for ethanol production and it is expected that with today's oil prices, the future ethanol industry in Africa would be cost competitive with petrol and diesel.
The Tanzanian government has active support from SIDA and the Swedish Energy Agency has created a special organisation, the National Biofuels Task Force (NBTF) that handles all issues and decisions related to the budding bio-fuel industry.
SEKAB, says when Swedish cutting-edge technology for production of cellulose ethanol which is being developed in the pilot plant by SEKAB in Ornskoldsvik, Sweden reaches commercial levels, it would also be linked to operations in Tanzania and Mozambique to extract residual products from the sugarcane (bagasse).
Carstedt says however, in addition to the growing of sugarcane and production of ethanol, these projects also involve the expansion of infrastructure and improved living conditions for many people who today are unemployed.
In February, 2007, when President Jakaya Kikwete paid an official visit to Sweden, SEKAB chief executive reported to him that trials on ethanol energy production that uses sugarcane as raw material were expected to start last year in Bagamoyo.
According to him, future plans and mass production were to move to Rufiji Valley Sugar cane plantations earmarked for the project would employ 300,000 people although the figure might double to 700,000.
The former Scania manufacturing plant at Kibaha in Coast region (about 40 km) from Dar es Salaam would manufacture vehicles using ethanol. Both SEKAB and Scania have started talks on the possibility of supplying vehicles that use ethanol.
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