THE Rural Energy Agency (REA) has started implementing the government directive on using clean cooking energy, signing six contracts valued at 72.8bn/- with the Prisons Department, the National Service and four liquid petroleum gas (LPG) distributors.

Advera Mwijage, the REA director for renewable energy and alternative technologies, made this observation at a press conference here yesterday, explaining the move as tied to the directive by President Samia Suluhu Hassan for public institutions serving more than 100 people to stop using charcoal or firewood.

The first contract is a three year deal covering 126 prison facilities with the Prisons administration, set at 35.23bn/- in which REA will provide 26.56bn/-, she said.

The project involves the construction of 126 biogas units and putting up 64 LPG cooking settings, distributing 15,920 gas cylinders of 15kg capacity to Prisons officials and 865 tonnes of briquettes from the State Mining Corporation (STAMICO).

The Prisons contracts will also cater for the supply of 16 briquette making machines, skills formation along with supplying 977 improved cooking stoves, she stated, noting that 377 stoves will be using biogas, 256 primed for LPG and 344 built for alternative energies.

The second is a two year contract with the National Service in 22 training camps valued at 5.75bn/- in which REA will cater for the 76 percent of the cost, for the construction of nine biogas machines, 291 briquette stoves.

The contract will also relate to building LPG cooking units and pots, plus purchasing 110 tonnes of coal-based charcoal, while the National Service will purchase 60 machines for production of alternative charcoal and train 50,000 youths.

In ensuring that rural and peri-urban areas use clean cooking energy, REA has earmarked 10bn/- to be paid to four distributing companies for the supply of 6kg LPG complete set of gas cylinders where a total 452,445 cylinders will be distributed at subsidized prices.

Taifa Gas, Manjis, Oryx and Lake Oil will be involved in the pact, with REA setting aside 15bn/- for facilitating the distribution of 200,000 improved cooking stoves, with the contract to that effect set to be signed soon, the director affirmed.

President Samia has pioneered the clean cooking energy drive, targeting 80 percent public use of clean energy in a decade.

REA is coordinating a natural gas distribution project implemented by the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC), where REA will provide 6.82bn/-. The project located in Lindi and Coast regions will connect 980 households, altogether 451 customers in Lindi and 529 in Coast Region, she added.