Energy and water development minister Kenneth Konga yesterday told parliament that government is committed in ensuring that fuel is made available to consumers in a most cost effective manner whilst ensuring security of supply.
Mr Konga said the current petrol shortage is as a result of the refinery catalyst and other attendant component reforming unit which require replacement adding that the technical performance of the refinery has decreased well before the estimated time for the planned shut down.
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He told parliament in a ministerial statement today that the Indeni petroleum refinery is due to shut down for the scheduled maintenance on 18th October for a period of two weeks.
Mr Konga told the house that this shut down of Indeni is a normal operational matter which is intended to enable the replacement of the components at the refinery in Ndola.
The minister said in order to reduce the inconvenience experienced by .the general public government has taken measures to reduce the problem.
He told parliament that the importation of fuel during the period of shut down, government has engaged the independent petroleum group IPO Kuwait.
Mr Konga said the current suppliers of petroleum feedstock and Dalbit petroleum limited of Kenya will import 50 milliom liters of diesel and 30 million liters of petrol which will be brought in the country through Dar-es-Salaam and Beira.
He added that the loading of the commodity for both routes commenced on 13th October and the first tracks are expected in the country by Friday 16 October 2009.
The minister told parliament that an addition of 1million liters of kerosene is also being imported in order to expedite delivery to filling stations adding that the fuel from Beira will be delivered directly to Lusaka while the products from Dar-es-Salaam will be delivered in Ndola.
Mr Konga said government has already made arrangements to facilitate logistics in the delivery of fuel
He told the house that government has made arrangements with Oil marketing companies OMCs for the importation of finished petroleum products.
ZANIS
There is some thing wrong at Energy Ministry. One wonders if the technocrats’ advise is taken seriously by the politicians or not or its a combination of incompetent hands good at opening their mouths. This idea od pipo spending long hours on quees for fuel should not be entertained as alot of productive man hours are lost and this will have devastating effects on the general performance of the economy.
PF retains kasama seat by landslide
II gree with #1 something is wrong at Ministry of energy,i suspect someone is reaping out of this crisis.
the problem continues and its not gonna end soon. what he is saying is a lie believe me
government is committed in ensuring that fuel is made available to consumers in a most cost effective manner whilst ensuring security of supply.
meaning we there is a problem and we should accept queuing up as thats the best alternative way we can get fuel.
Iwe ama election for kasama ati bwa,who has won
Just like at Zesco, change the management of indeni. It dosent matter if action is taken to alliviate the shortage, the point is there should be no shortage at all, especially after the series of shortages we have had. As i always say, no one is accountable in Zambia, the manegers and minister will even get a pat on the back for avoiding long term shorteges. Now tell us mister minister, how much $$$ has the country lost in these emergency imports of fuel because of no forward planning ???
hope Chiluba is not imfluencing in this issue like what happened when Indeni was gutted in the 90s.It is difficult to trust this bastard.
The solution is to close Indeni refinery. It is a liability to the nation.
Indeni is responsible for high fuel prices in Zambia as it’s configuration is for the 1970s market. Secondly these unplanned shut downs costs Zambia a lot of money. Who will pay for it. In the past Znoc absorbed these costs when it imported fuel.
Yes we want to have our own refinery, but at what price. The whole economy will be boosted by cheaper fuel prices. And Indeni will never give you that. Indeni is a liability. Sorry for those who work at Indeni but you will not be the first ones to be retrenched. Trust me you will find new jobs.