THE Lupane methane gas project is not taking off anytime soon because investors are reportedly not happy with the terms and conditions set by the government for operations to start.
This was revealed by the CEWALE Discovery Investment environmental consultant Michael Montana yesterday in an interview.
“I think they [Russian investors] now have the letter they were waiting for, I last spoke with them two to three months back,” Montana said.
“It seems the investors are delaying to come and kickstart the project because of the terms in the letter they were waiting for. The Russians are not on the same page with the government.”
In April this year, Montana bemoaned government’s failure to grant the investor mining rights.
Media reports stated that the Lupane Gas Project was set to start during the third quarter of this year.
Kusile Rural District Council chief executive officer Sifiso Hadebe said there had been no movement on the projects since the investors were waiting for a licence.
The natural gas reserves were discovered in Lupane several years ago.
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Commercial exploitation has been failing to take off despite exploration showing that the resource can be exploited commercially for domestic and industrial use.
Government granted exploration of gas a national project status in 2007, but there has been no full exploitation two decades later.
Methane gas is mostly used in power generation and fertiliser production.
