Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA) chief executive officer Henry Kachaje, whose recruitment was declared irregular by the Ombudsman, has advised Malawians to postpone trips and drive less amid the fuel crisis in the country.
Kachaje said this at a press briefing yesterday in Lilongwe .
There has been a shortage of fuel in Malawi over the past months and the crisis has worsened this week with long lines of cars looking to buy fuel at filling stations in various areas across the country. Currently, the country is rationing fuel supply and everyday MERA announces the filling stations which would have fuel on that particular day.
Kachaje said one of the ways of dealing with the crisis is for Malawians to drive less.
“There are some trips that people feel they could postpone so that the fuel that they already have should not be used up between now and when the situation normalises,” said Kachaje.
According to Kachaje, the crisis has been caused by shortage of forex in the country. He said Malawi has been failing to pay for fuel and for months has been using fuel stored in reserves instead of shipping fuel into the country.
He added that for some days, the country was buying fuel on revolving credit facility but the country has since used up the facility and has been banned from buying fuel on credit.
Kachaje, however, announced that the country is expected to receive 12 million litres and 13 million litres of petrol and diesel this week which aims at filling its 60 million litre fuel capacity reserves.
He said government has already secured a 60-million-dollar revolving financing facility specifically aimed at improving fuel importation in the country.
“There are 70 tankers which are coming and these will help end the queues which we are seeing,” said Kachaje.
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I don’t think it’s making Sense, people buy Vehicle/car for Tpt instead of Clearing the problem u r telling them to pospond trips,……. The next thing I’ll tell us to cell vehicle