Mozambique: Government launches cooking gas project – AIM

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Mozambique: Government launches cooking gas project – AIM

6:13 CAT | 09 Mar 2022

Screen grab: TVM

The Mozambican government will launch on Monday a project for the mass use of cooking gas through the introduction of local distribution networks.

A ceremony to mark the beginning of the project will take place in Anchilo, in the northern province of Nampula.

Speaking on Tuesday in Maputo, at the end of the weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers (Cabinet), the government spokesperson, Deputy Justice Minister Filimao Suaze, explained that the project includes refilling gas cylinders with a lower weight of gas to enable low-income households to purchase the gas.

Suaze pointed out that in other areas, such as within the cities of Maputo and Inhambane, domestic gas pipelines are being installed in pilot schemes. He noted that the outcome of these pilots will determine the means and timings of the mass introduction of domestic cooking gas.

Work is underway to replicate the local refilling of gas cannisters throughout the country, and Suaze explained that “it is operationally easier to transport the gas itself in large quantities for the filling process to be carried out locally”. He added that this will make it cheaper for the consumer to purchase the gas.

The country currently has the capacity to fill 33,754 bottles of cooking gas per day, which represents a monthly total of just over a million refilled bottles.

The government is planning to make available by 2025 1.4 million small cylinders containing five or six kilogrammes of gas along with other infrastructures such as communal kitchens in the northern provinces of Nampula, Tete, and Cabo Delgado. The project will cost 100 million US dollars funded through the Infrastructure Fund of the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy.

The mass use of cooking gas is an important element in the government’s efforts to reduce the use of charcoal which contributes to high rates of deforestation and negative impacts on climate change.