‘Stop foreigners from registering trucks locally’

‘‘Petroleum products distribution in the country is legally supposed to be the preserve of local transporters.’’

GOVERNMENT should stop foreigners from registering trucks in Zambia under the guise that they are locally owned because they are now stealing business from local transporters, Petroleum Transporters Association of Zambia (PTAZ)secretary general Benson Tembo has said.

Mr Tembo said petroleum products distribution in the country was legally supposed to be the preserve of local transporters.

He however said in an interview that foreigners were registering their trucks in Zambia so that they could operate locally.

Mr Tembo said with their trucks having Zambian number plates, foreigners were hijacking the petroleum distribution business but that profits were being externalised and without benefitting locals in any way.

He said in their countries of origin, no Zambian or any other foreigner could be allowed to register their trucks there.

Mr Tembo observed that businesses which were the preserve for locals in other countries were protected by the state.

He said the systems in Zambia were too porous that foreigners were registering as much as 100 trucks at a goal without being questioned where such investments were coming from.

Mr Tembo called on Government to ensure that foreigners were not able to register their trucks in Zambia so that local distribution of petroleum could remain a preserve for locals.