Tanzania has enough fuel, assures authority

Dar es Salaam. Fuel prices in the country are expected to rise, starting next Wednesday and the availability of the important commodity is said to be in good standard as the law requires that there should be a 15-day fuel reserve.

Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (Ewura) deputy Director General Godfrey Chibulunje made the comment to media editors yesterday, whereby he said there is still enough fuel reserve for 27 days.

He noted that the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine was the factor for the rise in fuel prices in the world.

He, however, said the commodity was being sold in accordance with the price it was bought.

“So far, we have enough petrol for 27 days, diesel (19), kerosene (108) and jet fuel (35) and other tank ships continue to off-load. According to our fuel preservation capability, the law requires that we should have fuel reserve for 15 days,” said Mr Chibulunje.

He explained that it was normal for fuel prices to change when a big event occurred in the world.

He gave the example of the fall of fuel prices during the outbreak of Covid-19 that affected global economic activities and he reiterated that the current rise in fuel prices was due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

“During the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic the fuel price plunged because the global demand for fuel was also low.

“However, when the pandemic started to go down, the fuel price, on its part, began to rise because its production was low while its demand was still high.

“And now the fuel price has gone up because the transport costs of the commodity are high, the demand is high and its availability is low,” he said.

Mr Chibulunje explained that despite the fact the prices of fuels is likely to rise, citizens should not be worried about its availability, saying that there will not be fuel rationing in the country like in other nations.

However, stakeholders who attended the meeting advised both Ewura and the government to emphasize on the use of gas as an alternative energy.

They noted that once the gas issue has been tackled, Tanzania as a country would not be affected much by some issues happening on the globe.

In the meeting, it was explained that the government was supposed to take the issue of fuels as an emergency that needed a quick solution by increasing gas supply, especially at gas refilling stations.

Not only that, but also it was suggested that Ewura and the government should make it easier for the acquisition of devices in the change of car systems towards the use of gas in vehicles with the aim of reducing the dependence on fuels.

“To say that there is a 27 day fuel reserve is a shame and it does not give the reliability of accessing the energy when things become worse.

“To me, I think it is high time the country invested more in the use of natural gas that we have in plenty here in the country,” suggested senior editor Peter Nyanje.

However, after the proposals had been given by the stakeholders, Ewura said the government was making efforts to woo investors in the area of gas refilling stations for cars and that it will continue to do so until the citizens have got a fuel alternative, which is very important to driving the economy.