Fuel situation improves: NOIC

Michael Magoronga, Midlands Correspondent

THE country has registered a positive improvement in fuel supplies and measures are being taken to restore normal services, the chairperson of the National Oil Infrastructure Company of Zimbabwe (NOIC), Engineer Daniel Mackenzie-Ncube, has said.

He said recent interventions by Government through its various departments in a bid to resolve the fuel crisis seem to be yielding positive results as fuel supplies have recently improved.

Long queues, which had become the order of the day, have since disappeared in some parts of the country while major cities, which have a higher vehicle population, have seen reduced queues, said Eng Mackenzie-Ncube in an interview.

“The fuel situation has improved immensely and this is attributed to a combination of factors that are being implemented by Government through its various arms. As NOIC, we are working round the clock to ensure that fuel supplies improve across the country,” he said.

Eng Mackenzie-Ncube said his department, working hand in hand with the Zimbabwe Energy Regulation Authority (Zera), has introduced a raft of measures that have resulted in sanity prevailing in the fuel sector. Among the measures, he said, Zera has introduced a concept whereby all fuel stations and garages would account for the fuel received in a bid to curb diversion of supplies to the black market.

“A lot of sanity that is prevailing is attributed to Zera through an introduction of some measures that helped in stabilising the situation. We are going to continue working together to ensure that there is enough supply of fuel in the country,” said Eng Mackenzie-Ncube. He also attributed the improvement to economic reforms undertaken by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and Treasury.  “We are fighting the situation as Government. You will also find that the massive improvement is attributed to a price gap between the interbank rate and the retail price of fuel. This goes on to stop a lot of arbitrage as people stop selling fuel on the parallel market,” Eng Mackenzie-Ncube said.