Diesel shortage hits C/belt

Diesel shortage hits C/belt
By Mutuna Chanda in Kitwe, Abigail Chaponda in Ndola and Zumani
Sunday August 10, 2008 [04:00]

A SERIOUS shortage of diesel has hit the Copperbelt Province. As at Friday evening and yesterday, long queues of vehicles could be seen at most filling stations in some mining towns while several stations had completely run out of the commodity.

And confusion reigned at Kobil Filling Station in Ndola on Friday when bus drivers almost beat up a fuel attendant for not attending to them.

Chililabombwe and Luanshya had completely run out of diesel by yesterday morning.
Ndola, Kitwe, Chingola and Mufulira witnessed long queues at a few filling stations that had the commodity on Friday evening and Saturday morning.

A check at all the filling stations in Ndola on Friday evening found that only two filling stations had diesel while the other eight had completely run out of the commodity.
A bus driver, Moses Banda, complained that he had been waiting for diesel since nine in the morning and was only attended to at 17:00 hours.

"This town does not have diesel any more. The diesel at this filling station is not enough for everyone and there is segregation in the way the fuel attendants are distributing diesel. They are only giving rich people and not us bus drivers, "he complained.

Kitwe witnessed long queues of motorists waiting to be served diesel on Friday evening while the same trend prevailed in Chingola.

A motorist who drives between Chingola and Chililabombwe for work described the diesel shortage in the two towns as pathetic.

"Actually Chililabombwe has run out completely," the motorist who declined to be named said. "The only ones who seem to have diesel are those illegal fuel vendors along the roadside."

In Luanshya, a survey conducted revealed that most of the filling stations had run out of diesel and petrol.

Some motorists talked to urged the government to quickly resolve the problem before it worsened.

"We are worried with the persistent shortage of fuel. I think government should do something urgently to solve this problem," the motorists said.

Of the four filling stations in the district, only Chisokone filling station had petrol and long queues of motorists were seen scrambling for the commodity by mid morning yesterday.

In Mufulira, district commissioner Dyford Mulwa said the area had had no diesel for the last three days.

Mulwa said the situation had affected the operations of some government departments such as the council.

Mufulira Town Clerk Charles Mwandila said the local authority could not collect garbage because of the shortage of diesel and that council police operations had been affected.

Mwandila said government departments such as buildings and health could not conduct inspections of their works because their vehicles were parked due to the lack of diesel.