SALESHANDO CALLS FOR MORE FUEL SUPPLY Let’s import from Saudi Arabia
Leader of Opposition, Dumelang Saleshando, has called on government to increase fuel supply in the country in order to solve the current fuel shortage.
When addressing the media on fuel crisis this week, the Vice President of the Umbrella for Democratic Change said that though rail is reportedly more expensive than road transport, the economic cost of the fuel shortages possibly dwarfs the higher costs of rail transport.
“Botswana Railways should be directed to deliver greater quantities of fuel from South Africa within seven days. Funds from the National Petroleum Fund and other Special Funds like the Alcohol Levy should be availed for this exercise.”
He said that Botswana needs to urgently import petroleum products from the international markets, including the countries that South Africa imports from like Saudi Arabia. He explained that the Tshele Hills strategic reserves project was supposed to have been completed in 2017 but is still not. “There needs to be an investigation into why the project remains incomplete and adopt a firm deadline for the project to be completed. Similarly, there needs to be a deadline for the completion of the Gantsi and Francistown strategic reserves storage expansion.”
Saleshando noted that Botswana maintains low levels of strategic fuel reserves (less than 20 days) whereas most landlocked countries maintain 90day strategic reserves. He said that government should set the target for what is needed to retain in the strategic reserves and state the time frame within which it is to be attained.
“We need to explore possibilities of setting up a refinery that will target the domestic market and export to neighbouring countries. Furthermore, there should be research on coal to fluid viability to allow Botswana to exploit her abundant coal deposits.”
He called for an investigation to establish why BERA and Botswana Oil were not able to anticipate the major disruption in fuel supplies. “Public institutions need to account for failure to perform their duties. Government must impress upon the Directorate of Intelligence and Security that they have a statutory duty to protect the country’s economic interests. Chronic shortage of fuel amounts to a national threat.”
Saleshando, however, called on the government to address the crisis at the borders where truck drivers spend more time waiting for their Covid-19 results. “The delays can be avoided by availing adequate showers and toilets for the truck drivers and stable internet for the clearing agents. Key commercial borders like Pioneer and Tlokweng should be transformed into onestop border posts as is the case with the Kazungula border.”
The Leader of Opposition said that the government should dialogue with the South African government on logistics for speedy testing of truck drivers destined for the Botswana border to reduce waiting time at points of entry.