Bulawayo legislator Nomvula Mguni says after 41 years of independence Zimbabwe should know by now how to do business without being exploited and should develop its gas reserves to develop the country.
She said it was better to get investors from within that outsiders who would end up looting the country’s resources.
Contributing to the debate on domestic resource mobilisation, Mguni said Zimbabwe had enough gas to last 200 years.
“Russia Mr. Speaker Sir, is the world’s leading exporter of gas. In 2020 alone, it exported gas worth US$25.3 billion and statistics say Russia is left with estimated reserves of about 59 to 103 years yet in Zimbabwe it is estimated to last for about 200 years. To me, 200 years is a long time of investing in such a project. The potential to bringing to the country forex income and employment is very high,” she said.
Full contribution
HON. N. MGUNI: Thank you Mr. Speaker for affording me this opportunity. I also want to thank the mover of the motion Hon. Dr. Khupe and the seconder. I want to thank all Hon. Members who have contributed before me and say our country is almost 41 years old now and we surely have gone through a learning process in order to realise who would exploit us positively or negatively. I want to support what Dr. Khupe said about probably getting investors from within because we have an experience of these outsiders who then come here to loot our resources.
Mr. Speaker, I think after 41 years we should have learnt how to do it or how to go about it in order to avoid exploitation. I want to support this motion because this methane gas has many advantages. It is environmentally friendly, odorless and it is cheaper to produce. We can use it for cooking even in the rural areas. That would environmentally protect our trees that are used mostly for firewood in the rural areas. Again, it has a very important protective function Mr. Speaker Sir, in the I and R injury and inflammation disorders. That means it can also be used in health. It can be used for heating in the manufacturing industry Mr. Speaker Sir. Everyone else has mentioned that we have problems with our energy and power. We experience power cuts on and off. It means if we exploit positively this methane, our industries will work 24 hours without interruption. That increases production, which is going to be positive for our industry and development like everyone else has mentioned. They say that methane can be used to dry cereals and fruits and it goes back to our industry as well that we can produce more and we can also export. That can gain us forex which we need so much in our country.
Some other advantages Mr. Speaker Sir are that the natural gas is less expensive than the energy that we use even in the households. If our people can use it for domestic cooking, their lives will be changed because they do not have to spend much on buying electricity. Russia Mr. Speaker Sir, is the world’s leading exporter of gas. In 2020 alone, it exported gas worth $25.3 billion and statistics say Russia is left with estimated reserves of about 59 to 103 years yet in Zimbabwe it is estimated to last for about 200 years. To me, 200 years is a long time of investing in such a project. The potential to bringing to the country forex income and employment is very high. The usage of this gas is safe in the sense that it can be used both in industry and for domestic use. Our normal gas, like I said smells and the only disadvantage would be that a gas that does not smell, no one would know about any leakages but people can be educated so that they are safe in their spaces of work. I urge the Government to seriously consider exploiting positively this project and stop importing energy which is very expensive to our country. With this, I thank you so much Mr. Speaker Sir.
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