The shortage of petrol has continued in most parts of Eastern Province, with fuel service stations only providing the commodity to account holders.
A check by ZANIS in Chipata found the BP and Total filling stations without the commodity, while Caltex filling station was providing only petrol to account holders.
Management stated that the commodity they had in stock was only for account holders who had already paid for it.
At Total filling station, petrol ran out last week, according to sources who sought anonymity.
The sources said the filling station would receive petrol tomorrow, adding that the commodity has already been loaded and is expected to arrive in the district by tomorrow.
BP filing station has had no petrol since last week. A source who chose to remain anonymous said the station is expecting the commodity by Thursday.
And in Petauke, the situation was the same at IMY Filling station where only account holders are accessing the commodity.
And the only BP filling station in Katete district did not have the commodity, according to a check by ZANIS.
Sources who chose to remain anonymous said the filling station has had no petrol for over a week.
Meanwhile, fuel dealers have taken advantage of the fuel crisis to smuggle petrol for sell to motorists in Chipata district.
A check found fuel vendors near Caltex and BP filling stations selling the commodity in five litre containers to motorists.
A check by ZANIS at Lundazi Service filling station, found enough stocks to last for two weeks.
According to a reliable source, the filling station has in stock 35000 litres of diesel and 17000 litres of petrol.
And Taxi operators in Kabwe have taken advantage of the petrol shortage that has affected the entire nation, to hike the fares on most routes.
A survey by ZANIS today, discovered that fares from town to various compounds have been hiked by over fifty percent.
The booking fare from Ngungu to town, which was K20, 000 has gone up to K35, 000, while the booking fare from town to Chowa has been raised from K10, 000 to K20, 000.
The other route affected is that from town to Chindwin barracks where passengers are paying K35, 000 from town from the normal fare of K25, 000.
A taxi driver who declined to be named said fuel vendors had also hiked the price of petrol to K220,000 per 20 Liter container from K130, 000.
Kabwe town has for almost three weeks has had insufficient petrol due to the depletion of the catalyst that is used in the processing of petrol and the subsequent closure of Indeni refinery in Ndola for routine maintenance.
Government has however assured the nation that the situation is under control.
ZANIS
Tell us something we don’t know. Petrol shortage anywhere in the country iz not nuz any more. Keep the nation informed of what iz being done to mitigate the problem, or shut up!
Reaping what you voted for.
In the words of Jeremiah Wright, “the chickens have come home to roost.”
# 3. I guess your surname is PERESTROIKA. The fuel shortage is the worst kind we have evr faced. RB is running the country very casually. This is un aaceptable in the modern civilisation.
It’s rough…we can oly hope that things better