THE number of motorists using Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is increasing fast and suppliers are planning to expand gas filling stations.
The trend shows that the number of motorists switching from petrol to gas is increasing rapidly at the end of the month when Energy announces the price raise.
Anric Gas Technology Marketing Director, Ms Mercy Chilumba said the number of vehicles coming to their station increased by between 200 and 250 per day from merely 70 last year.
"For instance, we are now selling two tonnes per day from two tonnes per week. We are now busy since gas vehicles have increased," Ms Chilumba told 'Daily News' in Dar es Salaam at the weekend.
Ms Chilumba said due to the increase of gas vehicles they intend to expand their services by opening two new filling stations.
"Our intention, for now, is to open two filling stations at Mkuranga and Dar es Salaam. In Dar es Salaam we are looking for an area along Bagamoyo road may be Tegeta or elsewhere while in the coastal region, we have targeted Mkuranga," said Ms Chilumba. She said they are in the process of seeking permits for the Mkuranga area while they are still looking for an area around Bagamoyo Road.
"Hopefully by the end of the year we can be in the position of running three filling stations if we manage to get permits from the government," Ms Chilumba said.
On her part, the TPDC Communication Manager, Ms Marie Msellemu, said the use of natural gas has increased and the number of domestic users has reached 2000. Ms Msellemu said a total of nine CNG filling stations are going to be built in the country to eliminate the challenge of the service.
"There has been a positive response from people changing their vehicle system from fuel to the gas system to reduce the cost of operation," said Ms Msellem.
She said that to date, there are two stations in the Dar es Salaam Region and one in Mtwara Region, adding that two of the nine stations will be completed within this year.
According to TPDC, the two stations will be built by the TAQADALBIT Company at the Julius Nyerere International Airport area and the other one will be built at the Sinza area along Sam Nujoma Road and will be equipped with garages to install CNG systems in cars.
Moreover, TPDC will build the mother station at the Mlimani City area in Dar es Salaam, which will have the capacity to accommodate six cars at par, as well as six CNG trucks to distribute gas to the smaller stations.
On his part, the Dar es Salaam Institute of Transport (DIT) CNG Manager, Dr Esebi Nyari said there was an increase in the installation of CNG systems in the cars. "Before we were installing one car per day but now we are installing an average of three per day.
Dr Nyeri said due to an increase in demand for installation DIT provided training and built the capacity of youth to enable them to install the system. In addition, Dr Nyeri said apart from installing CNG systems in cars, they were also able to teach young people how to install the system.
"Since we started this system, DIT has been able to build capacity and train about 100 young people who have already graduated. He said they also trained CNG Fuel System Inspectors where their role is to inspect cars after CNG installation. "DIT has developed further, by the time we started we had one inspector but so far we have about eight CNG Fuel System Inspectors," said Dr Nyeri.
He said that DIT intends to create awareness in the community so that they can make the right decisions.
Dr Nyeri said on average they installed three to four cars a day. The Dar es Salaam resident a CNG user, Maulid Ahmed said there is a relief to use CNG.
"Despite the fact that shifting from petrol to gas is expensive, it is better to do so since I used only 2m/- now I get relief to operate," said Ahmed.
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Ms Ahmed said that before changing into CNG she used to spend 50,000/- per week to and from but now she spends only 17,000/-. Ahmed said that after starting to use CNG she managed to save more than 6000/- per day.
"My car is a Harrier and I really save a lot of money and I don't have the stress of petrol anymore even if the price goes up," said Ahmed.
Ahmed said the current challenge is the shortage of gas filling stations. She asked the government to increase the number of stations to eliminate inconvenience to customers.
"I have heard in the media that some companies have been granted licences but I don't know when they will start working. The inconvenience is great. I work at the Tazara area and there was a time when the Anric station in Tazara was damaged, so I had to go to fill the Ubungo station where there is a big queue," said Ahmed.
Ms Ahmed called on Tanzanians to start using CNG since it will help them with low operating costs as well as the environment.
