Maravi

Fuel shortages continue

Fuel shortages continue
Written by Nchima Nchito Jr
Monday, October 12, 2009 7:48:01 AM

THE Zambia Association of Manufacturers (ZAM) has said the current fuel shortage in the country has justified their calls for the establishment of other refining points besides Indeni Oil Refinery. And the fuel shortage continued in Lusaka yesterday with motorists in the city subjected to long queues to access the commodity where it was available.

Commenting on the current fuel shortage in most parts of the country, ZAM chief executive Roseta Mwape in an interview said it was important for the government to invest in other fuel refining points around the country.

Energy permanent secretary Peter Mumba disclosed during a press briefing last Saturday that the shortage of fuel had been caused by a technical fault at Indeni Oil Refinery that drastically reduced petrol production capacity at the plant.

But Mwape said: “Even in our post-budget submissions that we made recently, we are still calling on the government to look into this issue.”

Mwape said although the manufacturing sector mostly used diesel in production, it still heavily relied on petrol for transportation of raw materials and the shortage of the commodity was a blow to the sector.

Zambia Consumer Association (ZACA) executive secretary Muyunda Ililonga appealed to transport operators not to take advantage of the current fuel shortage to hike fares.

He urged the government to ensure that fuel supply was normalised as soon as possible since the commodity was the lifeblood of the economy.

Ililonga said the country’s economy risked grinding to a halt if the fuel supply was not restored as quickly as possible.

The fuel shortage continued as at yesterday despite assurances from the government last Sunday.

During a check at a few filling stations in Lusaka, which had petrol, there were long queues as motorists waited in the heat to be served.

Some service stations only had diesel while those that had both petrol and diesel had restricted the purchase of the commodity to not more than K50,000 for each motorist.

BP service station at Arcades had long queues by midday yesterday, almost blocking the flow of traffic on Great East Road.

Fuel shortages were first felt on the market last Thursday and the situation is yet to normalise.

During a briefing, Mumba told the nation that Tanzania Zambia Mafuta (TAZAMA) was expected to release 1.5 million litres of diesel and 700,000 litres of petrol as at yesterday.

Mumba said the oil marketing companies (OMC) had been instructed by energy minister Kenneth Konga to release their 15-day strategic fuel reserve stock onto the market to combat the current shortages.

Labels: FUEL, MANUFACTURING

posted by MrK @ 6:48 AM