United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and TIB Development Bank have provided a grant of 2bn/- to support the entrepreneurial initiatives in the country's bioenergy sector.
UNIDO's Coordinator of Energy and Environment Projects Mr Victor Hakim said in Dar es Salaam yesterday during the launch of the stakeholder capacity building workshop that the organisation is currently embarking on major two projects including encouraging the use of clean energy for cooking and recycling waste in factories that process agriculture which is aimed at preserving the environment.
"The grant will facilitate the development of bioenergy projects, particularly those converting agro-wastes to energy and promoting bioethanol as an alternative cooking fuel," he said.
This initiative aligns with the country's intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) and is supported by a consortium of partners including the Ministry of Energy, Vice President Office division of Environment and the European Union.
On his part, the TIB's Director of Planning and Business, Joseph Chilambo said that the funds are part of both organisations' plan to minimise the presence of carbon dioxide highly attributed to the use of charcoal and firewood, leading to environmental pollution.
"As part of eliminating the occurrence of carbon dioxide, 1bn/-will be given to companies dealing with wastes to prepare papers to convince financial institutions to acquire capital boosts and the remaining amount will support clean cooking oils manufacturing," he said.
The beneficiary companies that received the fund are Consumer's Choice Limited, Multiplex System, TPC Limited, and Zanzibar Sugar Limited. Others are JV Biotech Limited, Sundy Merchants Limited, Bagamoyo Sugar Limited, Hanny G Investment, and Manyara Sugar Limited.
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He said funds are aimed at boosting two major key areas including supporting the waste-to-energy industries to prepare projects that will enable them to access loans from financial institutions and also used as incentives to companies that sell clean cooking oils to enable more production.
He said the use of firewood and unclean energies are not only polluting the environment but also contributes to the destruction of land through deforestation, thus the TIB Bank and UNIDO came up with the new cook stove plan which uses bioethanol which is developed from crop residues.
Additionally, TPC Limited's Executive Officer Mr Jafari Ally said the fund received from UNIDO will boost energy production where the company will be able to extend the production to four megawatts from three megawatts which is currently the company sells to Tanesco.
"We are currently producing 17.5 Megawatts...13 of them are used within the company and the remaining is sold to Tanesco but, after receiving the fund, we will be able to sell up to 4 megawatts to the national grid," said Mr Ally
