Taifa Gas, a Tanzanian liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) supply company led by prominent businessman Rostam Aziz, has been granted permission to establish an LPG plant in Kenya’s Export Processing Zone (EPZ), allowing the energy firm to expand its operations in East Africa.
The permission granted to the Tanzanian energy firm is part of a bilateral trade agreement between Kenya and Tanzania that spans the aviation and energy sectors, as the two governments work out bilateral trade agreements that will drive growth for the benefit of both countries.
The new trade agreement also allows Kenyan airline, Jambojet, to fly to Tanzanian destinations. The two countries have also resolved disputes involving aviation, tour vans, COVID-19 clearance certificates, and goods clearance on the Kenya-Tanzania border.
Kenyan LPG dealers recently increased the price of cooking gas by at least 15 percent, causing the cost of refilling a six-kilogram gas cylinder to exceed KSh1,500 ($13), while the cost of refilling a 13-kilogram cylinder to exceed KSh3,300 ($28.6).
The approval granted to the Aziz-led firm marks the beginning of a concerted effort to reduce energy prices, which have risen in recent weeks as local players in Kenya’s LPG market sell the commodity at prices deemed exorbitant and out of reach for many low-income households.
The leading energy company will also deepen and diversify its assets in East Africa as it prepares to add to its existing portfolio of assets in the region, which includes 35 plants and storage facilities in Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar.
Taifa Gas, formerly Mihan Gas, operates as Tanzania’s largest LPG supply company. Under the leadership of Aziz, the Tanzanian LPG supply company has built more than 30 plants and storage facilities in the East African country.
Aside from his stake in Taifa Gas, the Tanzanian billionaire, who was reportedly the first Tanzanian to have a net worth of more than $1 billion, according to Forbes in 2013, owns Caspian Mining, a contract mining firm in Tanzania, as well as real estate in Dubai and Oman.
The majority of Aziz’s fortune stems from his ownership of Vodacom Tanzania, the country’s largest telecom service provider. The Tanzanian billionaire sold his stake in Vodacom Tanzania to Vodacom Group South Africa in 2014 for an estimated $400 million.
Photo: Mwananchitz CC BY-SA 4.0
