The Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA) on Saturday provided an update on the current fuel shortages in the country.
MERA Chief Executive Officer Henry Kachaje told the journalists that the current fuel shortages is the result of lack of Forex in the country.
Kachaje who was accompanied by Minister of Information Gospel Kazako and Ministry of Energy Ibrahim Matola further delivered exciting news that about 70 tankers of fuel are on their way and will arrive on Tuesday giving hope of easing the situation.
Here is the full transcript of MERA boss, Henry Kachaje said during interviews..
CEO you have highlighted that there’s a concinment that is coming and that you also secured some financing facility, would you just shed more right on this?
[A] : Indeed we have received some confirmation from the central bank that they have made some allocations to help in the immediate importation of the petroleum products so that the major importers both NOCMA as well as PIL are able to bring in volumes that will help us to deal with the current fuel shortages.
We also have some assurance that negotiations that have been ongoing with one international financier are almost completed and once that comes on board then the National Oil Company which is also responsible for managing the strategic reserves is going to have adquate resources to help restock the strategic reserves so that we now have bather stocks available as we continue to supply our petroleum products directly to the markets.
So the 12 Million and 13 million Petro and Diesil which is coming will last us for how long?
[A] : This is the product that is going to last us for at least two weeks.
What will happen after that
[A] : That’s when we will have received all the other money that I am talking about which is coming from the international financing bank which is going to help us stock up the strategic reserves and we trust and believe that will definitely make a big difference in ensuring that there isn’t any sudden disruption in the supply of the products in the country.
You have given yourself time frame that by mid November you should fill up the 60 million liters fuel reserves, how much are you looking at to fill it up?
[A] : We have given some targets to the strategic reserves managers that once they are able to access financing which has been pledged, the priority must be to fill up the tanks and because of the management process that needs to go through it. Yes our target is that by mid November they should be able to do it but in any event that this is not done it will really be due to factors probably outside their control because it will depend largely on the disbursement of such finds but to stock up our strategic reserves you need an average of about 55 to 60 million dollars depending on the pricing of the petroleum products on the international market at the time of purchase.
