MWENSE District in Luapula Province has been hit with a critical shortage of fuel, forcing motorists in Mwense and those from Kasenga district in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to be trekking to Mansa to fetch the commodity.
Mwense district only has one filling station and was always overwhelmed with demand from the local motorists and those from the neighbouring country who crossed into Zambia to buy the commodity. District Commissioner (DC) Victor Kasuba confirmed the development in an interview in Mwense yesterday.
Mr Kasuba said the district had been without both petrol and diesel for four weeks now, forcing motorists in the area to be covering a distance of more than 70 kilometers to Mansa to buy the fuel.
He complained that the situation had a negative impact on the community, because it had resulted in hiking of prices of transport and other commodities.
Mr Kasuba said the problem did not only affect the community members but also the running of Government programmes as Government motor vehicles were also facing the same challenge hence slowing down development programmes.
He said when the fuel problem started about four weeks ago, he had made frantic efforts to discuss with the management at the service station, but it proved that it was beyond their capacity hence the situation to reach such far of not having even a few fuel for account holders.
He appealed to dealers in the petroleum industry to explore and take their investments to Mwense saying the district was in need of more service stations to meet the growing demand.
“Here in Mwense we need more than one filling station due to the growing economy resulting in high demand for fuel. Many people have bought vehicles, others use fuel in their boats while others use it in hammermills.
“And being a border town our friends from Congo in Kasenga district come here to buy fuel because as I always say, the people of Kasenga district and Mwense live like one family,” he said.
just look for serious investors who can build another filling station in mwense.
talk to katumbi in DRC since his subjects are beneficialies.
you should also look at that ka filling station done by the late chiluba at musangu village. it can also help once revamped.