Malawi-bound tankers are expected to start loading fuel in Tanzania today, bringing hope that fuel supply could normalise by this weekend.
Secretary for Energy Engineer Emmanuel Matapa said in an interview yesterday that the stabilisation of the political situation in Tanzania has given hope for “nomalcy in the next few days”.
He said: “You will notice that we get 70 percent of fuel supplies through Tanzania and the situation in that country affected us a lot. But the situation has returned to normalcy on that side, which will improve our situation.
“We expect that loading will commence tomorrow [today] and in the next two to three days we should have the situation normalised here, but really understand that the situation in Tanzania really affected us.”
Election-linked protests disrupted loading and hauling of fuel from Tanzania through the Indian Ocean ports of Tanga and Dar es Salaam.
The situation left scores of transporters, including fuel hauliers trapped in Tanzania since October 29 due to election-linked protests which saw the Kasumulu Border, where Malawians clear their goods on entry into that country, closed after protesters ransacked it.
Last week, the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera) indicated that 120 trucks loaded with fuel were stuck in Tanzania. However, by Sunday, only 20 were confirmed to have crossed Songwe Border into Malawi.
Mera said additional fuel has been sourced from Msasa in Zimbabwe as well as Nacala and Beira in Mozambique to ease the situation.
A truck driver we spoke to from Kasumulu yesterday, Thokozani Banda confirmed that some fuel trucks entered Malawi yesterday, but the rest are still stuck in Tanzania.
An oil industry source yesterday confided that out of the 120 trucks in Tanzania, there are 77 in that country while 38 trucks carrying fuel procured in Mozambique have yet to arrive in the country.
Fuel Retailers Association of Malawi chairperson Happy Jere said except for the communication from Mera last week, there has been no further communication on the inflow of fuel into the country.
Mera 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.
