DODOMA: THE government has removed fuel and natural gas from the list of Union Matters, with the Union Government and the Zanzibar government now managing the sectors separately. Deputy Minister of State in the Vice-President’s Office (Union and Environment), Reuben Kwagilwa, told the National Assembly in Dodoma yesterday that both governments had agreed to remove … The post Govt removes oil, gas from union matters list appeared first on Daily News .
DODOMA: THE government has removed fuel and natural gas from the list of Union Matters, with the Union Government and the Zanzibar government now managing the sectors separately.
Deputy Minister of State in the Vice-President’s Office (Union and Environment), Reuben Kwagilwa, told the National Assembly in Dodoma yesterday that both governments had agreed to remove Item 15, which covers petroleum resources, crude oil, motor fuel, petrol and other petroleum products, as well as natural gas, from the Union Matters list.
Mr Kwagilwa was responding to a basic question from Rashid Ali Rashid (Mtambwe, ACT-Wazalendo), who wanted to know whether the government had plans to remove fuel and gas from the list.
He said the two sides were already managing the sectors independently under their respective laws. The Union Government, he noted, had enacted the Oil and Gas Act, 2015, which established the Petroleum Upstream Regulatory Authority (PURA) under Section 11.
Zanzibar, meanwhile, enacted the Petroleum Exploration and Production Act No. 6 of 2016, establishing the Zanzibar Petroleum Regulatory Authority (ZPRA) and the Zanzibar Petroleum Development Corporation (ZPDC).
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In a supplementary question, Mr Rashid sought clarification on revenue-sharing arrangements from oil and gas extraction in Zanzibar, noting that the Constitution of Tanzania lists oil and gas among Union Matters.
Mr Kwagilwa said the Zanzibar House of Representatives had already approved and submitted a proposal to remove the matter from the Union Matters list, followed by the enactment of legislation governing the sector in Zanzibar.
“Therefore, there is no dispute between the Government of Zanzibar and the Union Government on this matter. Both sides have agreed that oil and gas should be managed separately in accordance with the laws enacted by each side,” Mr Kwagilwa said.
The Deputy Minister said the two sides had since established separate regulatory and institutional frameworks to manage oil and gas activities.
He said the management of oil and gas activities in Zanzibar and Tanzania Mainland would therefore continue to be undertaken separately under their respective legal frameworks.
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