At least 300 trucks hauling diesel and petrol bought under Kenya’s existing Government to Government (G2G) arrangement with Abu Dhabi have arrived in Malawi.
The trucks, which started arriving in the country last week Saturday include 100 from local transporters and 200 from Tanzanian haulers.
National Oil Company of Malawi (Nocma) has said about 1 409 trucks are expected to complete hauling the 51.5 million litres under the G2G deal.
The development has so far eased fuel queues across the country, with the Transporters Association of Malawi (TAM) and Petroleum Retailers Association of Malawi acknowledging the impact of the G2G fuel arrival.
TAM spokesperson Frank Banda said an additional 100 trucks from TAM, 86 from International Haulage Brokers and about 20 from Petroda [all Malawian] are at Tanga Port in Tanzania since Wednesday to load fuel. We also have 200 trucks owned by Tanzanian companies also loading.
“By Tuesday next week, we expect all the 400 trucks to start entering the country through Songwe Border.”
According to Banda, 40 trucks from Petroleum Importers Limited, and 60 others carrying the open tender fuel from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania are also expected to get into the country the same Tuesday.
“So, we should expect fuel to continue normalising with this haulage,” said Banda, whose institution is key to ensuring that fuel is transported from ports in Tanzania and Mozambique into Malawi.
TAM chairperson Happy Jere said although the fuel shortage situation has eased, government must eliminate the parallel or black market.
“We hope that the steady fuel supply will continue and that the commodity will also be available in rural areas. The challenge we see is the thriving black market. It has to be dealt with because it creates unnecessary shortages,” he said.
On how to sustain the momentum, Minister of Energy Ibrahim Matola said the actual G2G arrangement for Malawi is still taking place as Capital Hill has invited expressions of interest from refinery countries.
According to Matola, Arab countries where the government has asked for expressions of interest include Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait.
Said the minister: “We want to see their margins and premiums, so that we can look at who should be given the contract to manage the G2G.
“The other processes will be done by government entities such as Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority, Nocma and PPDAA [Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority] and others,” he said.
Nocma data show that Malawi uses 1.05 million litres each of diesel and petrol per day, which means the country spends $600 million (about K1 trillion) on fuel importation per year, according to the Reserve Bank of Malawi.
