DAR ES SALAAM, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian parliament on Monday ratified the Intergovernmental Agreement between Tanzania and Uganda on the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project.
Parliament ratified the agreement after earlier this year Tanzania and Uganda agreed to construct the 1,445 km pipeline from the oilfields of Hoima in Uganda to Tanga port in Tanzania.
Palamagamba Kabudi, the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, told the House that Tanzania stood to benefit a lot from the 3.5 billion U.S. dollar oil pipeline project.
"The project is expected to create 10,000 jobs during construction and other 10,000 jobs during implementation of the project," said Kabudi in his statement read on his behalf by the Minister for Information, Culture and Sports, Harrison Mwakyembe.
Kabudi told the august House that the project will also help Tanzanians to gain experience in running gas and oil projects.
Kabudi said the treaty also stipulates areas of cooperation, rights and freedoms to the project operators as well as the concessions the government provides for the project.
After signing the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA), the state parties are supposed to establish a working group called IGA Consultation Committee made up of qualified representatives of each country, said the minister.
He said the committee will serve as a body in which the two countries exchange information and consult in respect to questions relating to the agreement on the project.
The agreement also stipulates that there shall be no customs and import duties on machinery, capital goods and temporary importation of any motor vehicles for the direct and exclusive use in the EACOP project.
The treaty gives exemption of transit fees on the transport of petroleum in the EACOP project.
Uganda estimates overall crude reserves at 6.5 billion barrels, while recoverable reserves are seen at between 1.4 billion and 1.7 billion barrels.
