Petroleum Bulk Procurement Agency (PBPA) has rolled-out cargo by cargo tender system of fuel importation for November delivery that witnessed falling costs.

This is a single product tendering system where petroleum products importers bid to supply Diesel, petrol and Jet fuel and kerosine separately.

The PBPA Acting Executive Director, Mr Michael Mjinja, said in Dar es Salaam yesterday that in just the first day of the tendering system, figures put forward by bidders are down compared to the old system.

"It is very much encouraging for the country when looking at the tendering numbers put forward by importers particularly tender winners," he said in his closing remarks after the tender committee chairman Mr Ali Ahmed declared the successful bidders of cargo by cargo.

He said the declining importation costs may be translated into falling fuel prices in December only if global oil prices remain low.Company that emerged successful at the cargo by cargo tender meeting is Addax Energy SA for delivering 78,284 metric tonnes of gasoil at 18.990 US dollars per metric tonnes and 14.970 US dollars per metric tonnes for cargo I&II respectively.

Also the total bid price value of the cargo I&II is 1,486,633.150 US dollars and 1,171,911.480 US dollars respectively. Similarly, Addax Energy SA won the tender of Jet A-1 of importing 23,962 metric tonnes at 21.120 US dollars per metric tonnes and total bid price value of 506,077.440 US dollars.

For Motor Spirit Premium, Trafigura Energy SA emerged winner of importing 35,150 metric tonnes after offering 8.800 US dollars per metric tonnes and 9.200 US dollars for cargo I&II respectively at a total bid price value of the cargo I&II of 309,328.800 US dollars and 323.380 Us dollars.

Other companies that participated in the tender processes are Sahara Energy SA, Vitol Bahrein E.C, Augusta and Enoc Africa Limited.

On his part, the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA) Principal Commercial Officers- Petroleum Engineer Lorivii Long'idu said the new system has been interesting with hope for more companies to participate in the following tenders.

"This means that local companies that complained of being locked out due to heavy financial requirements, can now take part in the tendering process," he said.

By Ejiofor Alike with Agency Report

Despite the decision of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to cut crude oil production by 200,000-700,000 barrels per day to achieve price recovery, oil prices fell yesterday after the gains recorded on Wednesday.

This was just as Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, launched its "#makethefuture" programme, where it unveiled six new technologies from different youth entrepreneurs around the world to provide sustainable and cleaner energy than conventional energy sources.

OPEC agreed on Wednesday to implement modest oil output cuts in the first such deal since 2008, with the group's leader Saudi Arabia softening its stance on arch-rival, Iran, amid mounting pressure from low oil prices.

Under the deal, OPEC would reduce output to a range of 32.5 million barrels per day to 33 million barrels per day from the current estimates of 33.24 million bpd.

The Wall Street Journal reported that OPEC's surprise proposal prompted the largest gains in crude prices since April on Wednesday, but the rally ran out of steam as investors wondered if the cartel's members would stand by an agreement.

Concerns have also been raised over how much sway the cartel now has over a market still brimming with crude from around the world.

The group reached an understanding at a meeting Wednesday in Algeria that there was a need to scale back production.

However, analysts also argued that the scope of the reduction–between 200,000 and 700,000 barrels a day–was inadequate to arrest the supply growth and bring balance back to the supply-demand dynamics.

OPEC members will wait until the next official meeting in November to complete the details, including the quota for individual producers.

But despite the agreement, Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, yesterday fell 0.8 per cent to $48.85 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate futures were trading down 0.5 per cent at $46.85 a barrel.

Meanwhile, Royal Dutch Shell Plc's "#makethefuture" programme launched in Brazil yesterday was targeted at bringing bright energy ideas into action to benefit local communities around the world, and also highlighted the need for greater global collaboration to create more energy to meet the world's growing population.

The six new energy solutions include: Pavegen, which converts kinetic energy generated by footsteps into electricity; and Capture Mobility, which converts human and vehicular traffic into electricity.

The Pavegen solution has been deployed in Nigeria where Shell built Africa's first human and solar-powered football pitch at the Federal College of Education, Akoka, Lagos.

Others include GravityLight, which generates electricity from falling objects; Insolar, which provides communities easy access to solar energy; MotionECO, which turns waste cooking oil into energy; and Bio-bean, which converts waste coffee into energy.

Speaking at the launch of the programme, Shell's Global Head of Integrated Brand Communications, Malena Cutuli, identified the lack of access to cleaner energy as one of the greatest challenges facing the world.

She advocated the need for donors and sponsors to support entrepreneurs around the world to develop ideas and power of innovative options for communities to access cleaner energy.

"We want to improve our lives, our communities, and our countries, and we are constantly developing new technologies and methods to do so. But we thereby face a global problem: the more we reach for a brighter future, the more energy we consume along the way.

"Our current access to energy is neither enough to satisfy our growing energy needs, nor is it sustainable. The ways in which it is being provided now contribute to climate change, as well as costing the planet valuable resources. We need more and cleaner energy. But we can't do it alone," she explained.

She further stated that the "#makethefuture" campaign was the company's call for collaboration to create smart energy solutions that would generate more and cleaner energy across the world.

"It is a privilege to see how ideas are transformed into realities," she added.

"Working together, we are turning gravity into light, coffee into energy, cooking oil into fuel, footsteps and roofs into power sources, and roadside turbulence into electricity.

"Communities in Brazil, Kenya, China, United States and UK will experience, first hand, the benefits of these new sources of energy. And we will all see how a different future is possible, a future that is in our hands to create," Cutuli said.

Also speaking, Shell Brazil's External Relations Manager, Glauco Paiva, described Brazil as the world's leader in the oil and gas business of exploration and production (E&P), adding that Brazil would host Shell's Eco Marathon competition where any technology that consumes less energy would emerge the winner.

In an apparent justification of Shell's investment in the project in the face of the slump in oil prices, Paiva noted that the energy need of the world's population of seven billion would continue to grow, thereby providing justification for investment in renewables.

Six artistes selected across the world, including Nigeria's award-winning Yemi Alade, Brazil's Luan Santana and British singer, dancer, actress and song writer, Pixie Lott, performed at the event to promote cleaner energy solutions.

In his remark, the founder of Paven and British entrepreneur, Laurence Kembell-Cook, stated that his idea harnesses kinetic energy generated by footsteps to generate electricity.

According to him, before he built Africa's first human and solar powered football pitch at the Federal College of Education, Akoka, Lagos in Nigeria, Shell and football icon, Pele, had helped Pavegen to launch the world's first people-powered football pitch in Morro da Mineira, a favela in Rio de Janeiro, adding that the technology had been deployed in various high-football locations around the world.

By Paidamoyo Chipunza and Praise Bvumbamera

The Zimbabwean and South African governments are working on measures to deal with unemployed but qualified teachers in Zimbabwe while at the same time addressing the needs gap in the "Rainbow Nation".

The process is expected to see Zimbabwean teachers in South African being registered and licensed.

The move comes against the backdrop of an unquantifiable number of qualified Zimbabwean teachers working in South Africa. Some of the teachers are not in the education sector and those in the education sector are employed mostly in private schools, where authorities cannot easily monitor their conditions of service.

Addressing a Press conference, flanked by South Africa's Basic Education Minister Angelina Motshekga, after a two-day conference on identifying possible areas of cooperation, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Dr Lazaraus Dokora said issues of human resources, research, curriculum implementation and assessment are earmarked for collaboration.

"The way we have discussed this issue is to say that, when our teachers proceed to work in South Africa, we want to know where they are, how they are being deployed and we also safeguard their interests," said Minister Dokora.

Dr Dokora said the collaboration was meant to find a common ground with South Africa for the benefit of not only the two countries but also the teachers themselves. Minister Dokora said both countries also need to cooperate on curriculum implementation and assessment to modernise the two in line with the demands of the 20th century.

He also said that other areas included educational conferences to keep learning from each other and arts festivals.

Minister Motshekga said South Africa had always held Zimbabwe's education system in high esteem and therefore had a lot to learn for her northern neighbour.

She said one area her government was keen to learn from Zimbabwe was the area of public examinations from which, she said the country was way ahead compared to South Africa.

"Historically, South Africa looks forward to the education system of Zimbabwe and thus we never hesitated to take up your invitation to this meeting to see how best we can collaborate," she said.

Minister Motshekga said a series of meetings will follow the engagement with her Zimbabwean counterpart to start operationalising other areas that do not necessarily require a Memorandum of Understanding.

Both ministers, however, said they were looking forward to have an MOU in place before the end of the year.

The Dangote Industries Limited 17 billion-dollar refinery project will create over 300,000 direct and indirect jobs by the first quarter of 2019, the Chief Operating Officer, Mr Olakunle Alake, has said.

Alake made the disclosure in an interview with the Newsmen in Lagos on Monday, adding that the refinery, petrochemicals and fertiliser plants were in one location.

He said the project would be the single largest stream in the world.

"The refinery and fertiliser projects will create job opportunities for the communities and Nigerians when it becomes operational.

"The refinery will have a refining capacity of about 650,000 barrels of crude a day," he said.

Alake said the project would force down the price of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) in the country and save money spent on importation.

He said that projects such as these would optimise government revenue and wean Nigeria from relying solely on oil.

According to him, the best way to diversify Nigeria's economy is through agriculture and the fertiliser plant is in line with that goal.

The chief operating officer said that the 98 per cent of basic engineering on the fertiliser plant had been executed, while the construction had progressed by 30 per cent.

" By the time we finish our gas pipeline it will be able to generate about 12,000mw which can be exported to other African countries.

"We will have the capacity to store four billion litres of products and load 2,680 trucks per day.

"The project will aid the country with about 7.5 billion dollars forex savings on importation.

"It will also generate five billion dollars forex earnings from savings and another 5.5 billion dollars export earnings," he said.

Alake gave assurance that there would be markets for the refined products, saying that only three countries in Africa had effective and functional refineries, while others imported.

Alake said the projects would help the country save five billion dollars on oil importation when it became operational in 2019.

"By the time we complete this project, there will be opportunity to take on agriculture and say bye to poverty because there will be jobs; no sector has more job potential than agriculture.

"Though the project is an ambitious one but when completed it will give Nigeria a new economic direction in its quest for economic diversification."

He said excess products would be exported to give Nigeria the much needed foreign exchange.

"That is when diversification starts," he said.

Alake said, however, that access to foreign exchange posed serious challenges to the projects.

"We aim to complete the projects within the time frame to assist in easing the forex problem.

"We appeal to the Federal Government to support these private initiatives by providing funding for the projects.

"However, government through the Bank of Industry schemes has given us a credit facility of N50 billion to develop the fertiliser plant.

"We have also gotten another N75 billion approval for the refinery, which we have not yet accessed," Alake said.

PRESS RELEASE

Government is investing massively to transform the country in a sports hub and provide adequate sports facilities across Mauritius to offer the opportunity to everyone to practice a discipline of his choice, observed the Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Yogida Sawmynaden, this morning at the Hennessy Park Hotel, in Ebène.

The Minister was speaking at the opening of a Consultative Meeting and Workshop on the Development of a National Sport for All Strategy and Action Plan with the aim to maximise the contribution of Sport to national development priorities. The workshop is being organised by the Ministry of Youth and Sports in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat.

In his address, the Minister stated that at a time when everything we do is performance-based we have to face growing health-related challenges and issues affecting our population and this workshop comes at a right time and deserves to be highlighted.

Mauritius, Mr Sawmynaden pointed out, is among the top countries in the world whose population has a high incidence of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases associated with physical inactivity. It is therefore imperative to combat these ills of modern life in order to tackle health issues which have a negative, social and economic impact on the population as a whole, but also, on our youth, he stressed.

The Minister highlighted the need for collaborative efforts both by public and private stakeholders in the sports sector to build a fitter and a healthier nation in line with Government's policy. Sports is an activity which thrives on discipline and team spirit and these are the values that we are looking for in building and guiding future generations, he added.

For his part, the Head of Sport for Development and Peace, Commonwealth Secretariat, Mr Oliver Dudfield, stated that people under the age of 30 constitute 60% of the Commonwealth countries' population and there is a strong interlink between young people and the potential of sports and physical activity.

He called for reflection on the role that sport plays in enhancing sustainable development and national development, and in the case of Mauritius, in enhancing health, promoting education, strengthening community cohesion and in enhanced sport for all and mass sports across the country.

The workshop

The one-day workshop has as main objectives to: reflect on the contribution of sport to improving health, social cohesion and the inclusion of marginalised groups in Mauritius; and, consider strategies to increase participation in sport and physical activity in Mauritius and maximise the contribution of sport to sustainable development in Mauritius.

Discussions are focusing on: Sport, the Sustainable Development Goals and Mauritius Vision 2030; Sport for Development Programme Theories; Enhancing Sport and Physical Activity Participation in Mauritius; and, Developing National Sport for All and Sport for Development Strategy and Action Plans.

By Ludger Kasumuni

Dar es Salaam — Chinese capital investment for revamping the Tanzania Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara) is awaiting pending negotiations to decide on public-private partnership (PPP) in the project.

Speaking on the sidelines of the 7th East and Central Africa Roads and Rail Infrastructure Summit, Tazara public relations manager Conrad Simuchile said yesterday said that a Tazara management team would visit China next month for the talks.

"Negotiations on revamping Tazara to make it attractive to Chinese investors are at an advanced stage. The only pending issue is the form of PPP that will form part of the contractual terms," said Mr Simuchile.

Addressing the summit, Tazara managing director Bruno Ching'andu said that the struggling firm needed an urgent capital injection of $250 million for rehabilitation of the railway line and equipment.

"Tazara has been performing poorly over the years. We need investors to revamp Tazara. The design capacity of Tazara was to transport five million tonnes of goods a year, but it now transports only 1.3 million tonnes. It ferries less than five per cent of cargo handled at Dar es Salaam port," he said.

The Tazara railway line was originally designed to carry three million passengers annually, but the current traffic is only 450,000 passengers.

Mr Ching'andu blamed the firm's poor performance on worn-out equipment, an ageing workforce, low operating capital and stiff competition Dar es Salaam Port was facing from other ports in eastern and southern Africa.

He said, however, that 20 percent of the firm's wagons had been repaired as a result of the management's efforts to turn the company around, adding that transit time between Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia to Dar es Salaam had been reduced from 30 to six days.

Mr Ching'andu also said investment opportunities in commuter train services provided by Tazara had increased significantly in recent months.

The Minister of Works, Transport and Communications, Prof Makame Mbarawa, said when opening the conference that the government would attract significant investments for upgrading roads and railways to make the country's vision of becoming a middle-income economy by 2025 a reality.

President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday said Nigeria will continue to expand its relationship with India in the areas of health, education, agriculture, technology and trade.

Receiving the Indian Vice President, Mohammad Ansari, at the State House, President Buhari said Nigeria had over the years benefited from the cooperation of the Asian country in trade and investment, agriculture, technology and the fight against terrorism.

The President welcomed the proposed investment of $5 billion in the Nigerian economy by the business delegation that accompanied the Vice President, while noting that India had already invested $10 billion in the Nigerian economy.

President Buhari said Nigeria would emulate the Asian country's agricultural model and capacity to feed its 1 billion population, and also export to other countries, describing the country as "sustainable and prosperous."

The President noted that Nigeria would continue to support the reform of the United Nations Security Council, pointing out that it was unfair on the rest of the world for five countries to exercise the power of "yes or no" in the UN.

In his remarks, the Indian Vice President said his country, which is the leading buyer of Nigeria's crude oil, will increase its purchase of the commodity in addition to natural gas.

According to him, the relationship between Nigeria and India is near perfect as both countries "have nothing to quarrel about".

Pretoria — Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies has encouraged US automotive and energy storage company Tesla to explore the possibility of setting up shop in South Africa.

The company expressed interest of investing in South Africa during a business breakfast session in Washington, DC in the United States, where Minister Davies was addressing investors on Sunday.

This, as the Minister is in the US to attend the 15th Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum.

Tesla Motors designs, manufactures and sells electric car components and batteries. The founder of the company is South African born Elon Reeve Musk.

Minister Davies indicated that South Africa's automotive programme already has an additional incentive that applies to the electric vehicles. He further stated that government understands that electric vehicles are where things are going, including hybrids and fuel cells.

Minister Davies highlighted that government is still on track with the Independent Power Producers Programme (IPP) on renewable energy. He emphasised that investors had informed him that South Africa's IPP programme is one of the best power purchasing programmes in the world.

The business breakfast preceded the one day AGOA Forum on Monday. The Forum is an annual forum that takes place on an alternating basis between sub-Saharan Africa and the United States.

The theme for this year's Forum is "Maximising U.S.-Africa Trade and Investment: AGOA and Beyond". The forum will focus on the implementation of AGOA utilisation strategies, as well as, the US-Sub-Saharan Africa trade and investment relationship beyond AGOA.

AGOA is a unilateral US trade preference programme that provides duty-free, quota-free treatment for over 6 400 tariff lines into the United States market.

US President Barrack Obama signed into law the Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015 that contained the AGOA Extension and Enhancement Act, which extended AGOA for 10 years until 2025 with South Africa included.

PRESS RELEASE

Department of Science and Technology to host International Conference on Research Infrastructure 2016 in collaboration with European Union

The Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor, will address the International Conference on Research Infrastructure (ICRI 2016) in Cape Town on Monday, 3 October.

The conference will give South Africa an opportunity for government leaders, policy makers, infrastructure directors, researchers and practitioners to identify new and existing challenges and opportunities, and to explore new ideas, policies, methods, techniques and tools with colleagues around the globe.

South Africa has demonstrated its science and technology research capability, and is acknowledged as a natural home of some of the world's most significant research infrastructures. The hosting of ICRI 2016 will augment the country's progression to becoming a knowledge-based economy.

Minister Pandor will share the stage with other dignitaries, including Marcus Cornaro, EU Ambassador to South Africa, Robert-Jan Smits (Director-General, Research and Innovation of the European Commission), and Phil Diamond (Director-General of the Square Kilometre Array Organisation).

Issued by: Department of Science and Technology