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Tricycle taxi driver, Hamadi Juma, says Dar es Salaam is breathing “a little easier.” He is among the thousands of motorists who are cooperating in Tanzania’s campaign to switch from petrol to natural gas in an urgent effort to reduce greenhouse gases and alleviate air pollution. It’s part of a continent-wide shift away from fossil fuels.
SPECIAL REPORT | BIRD AGENCY | Every morning, Hamadi Juma, a 32-year-old from Dar es Salaam’s Temeke district rolls his three-wheeled motorized tricycle, popularly known as a bajaji, out of his backyard and heads toward the busy Nelson Mandela Road to start looking for passengers. They are mostly traders, and he will transport them and their goods from a central market to nearby estates.
Along the way, he usually stops at a station to refuel. Juma is one of nearly 15,000 motorists (according to the Tanzania Petroleum and Development Corporation) turning to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as the country accelerates its efforts to promote cleaner and more affordable transport. The switch has proven to be a money saver for many.
“When I was using petrol, I used to stop working before sunset. Fuel was too expensive. With gas, I work longer and keep more money after every trip,” Juma told Bird in an interview.
According to him, the switch cut his fuel cost by 30% to 40%, allowing him to save an average of Tsh 10,000–14,000 daily ($4 – 6 USD), a significant margin for a daily earning transport operator. But, CNG infrastructure can only be found in the capital, and even there, refueling stations are few.
“Sometimes, during peak evening hours, you still find queues. But it’s nothing like before,” he said.
Deputy permanent secretary of the Ministry of Energy, Dr. James Mataragio, has publicly encouraged Tanzanians to consider investing in CNG stations. Meanwhile, the government plans to supply more of them in Dodoma, Morogoro and Mwanza regions
The city’s rapid transit agency (UDART) rolled out the first CNG-powered BRT buses in May 2025 as part of a plan to bring 100 CNG buses (procured from a UAE government-backed initiative) into service, a move the agency said will reduce operating costs while cutting local emissions from public transport.
Juma pointed to the exhaust pipe to show how his bajaji also emits less soot and produces less engine noise.
“This city breathes a little easier when more vehicles like mine use gas,” Juma said.
According to the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC), CNG-powered vehicles in the country grew from just over 1,100 in 2021/22 to more than 7,000 by mid-2024. Some industry estimates project the number to have surpassed 15,000 vehicles by 2025.
Throughout Africa, motor fleets are steadily shifting toward compressed natural gas (CNG) as countries look for cheaper, cleaner and locally powered transport options. Egypt leads the continent with one of Africa’s largest CNG-vehicle programmes—supported by hundreds of refueling stations and a government-backed initiative that has converted hundreds of thousands of taxis and private cars.
In Nigeria, the shift is accelerating under the National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP), which aims to convert over one million vehicles to CNG in the coming years. With one of the world’s largest natural-gas reserves, the country is aggressively licensing conversion workshops, building new filling stations, and rolling out CNG buses across major cities like Lagos and Abuja.
According to Mordor Intelligence industry-report in their “Africa CNG and LPG Vehicle Market,” it accounted for over 77% of Africa’s alternative-fuel vehicle revenues in 2024, and adoption is projected to grow steadily through 2030.
While passenger vehicles dominate the conversions, commercial fleets—taxi operators, minibuses, delivery vehicles, and ride-hailing cars — are rapidly joining the transition to reduce fuel costs and emissions. With Egypt and Nigeria setting the pace and several other African states expanding refueling infrastructure, the shift to natural gas is becoming a pan-African mobility transition.
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SOURCE: Twaha Mruma, bird story agency
