Transport fuel through railway, State advised
GOVERNMENT should consider transporting fuel through the rail transport which is cost effective compared to the road transport, an energy expert Johnstone Chikwanda has said.
Zambia currently procures the bulk of refined products by road via Dar-es-Salaam, hence the escalating costs of the pump prices.
Middlemen also contribute to the escalating costs.
Mr Chikwanda said in an interview that ttransporting fuel by rail could result in reduced costs and guaranteed security.
Mr Chikwanda however said the importation of fuel through the railway line should be backed by a well-thought out master plan.
The master plan, he said, should take into account the capacity of the railway system through bulk transportation and reduced pump price.
He explained that the country should ensure that there were enough wagons to transport fuel while state of the railway lines should be in tip-top form.
"The country used to transport fuel through the railway line, there was a company which trusted TAZARA to do so," he said.
Mr Chikwanda stated that the capacity to transport fuel should be analysed as well as the security of the commodity during transportation and the offload points among others.
He said efficiency in transportation of fuel would lead to reduced pump price and the railway transport was one of the cheapest and effective ways of transporting the commodity.
"With railway, you can transport fuel from Dar-esSalaam, Zimbabwe, South Africa as long as the railway capacity is analysed and improved upon," Mr Chikwanda said.
AGRO dealers have appealed to the Government to lift the ban on maize export.
In an interview yesterday, one of
in Lusaka the agro dealers said Zambia is expected to record another bumper harvest following the favourable rain that the nation has received.
Prigma Agro Limited managing director Amon Maviya said the ban on maize export must be lifted in a transparent manner for the benefit of agro traders.
Mr. Maviya said even if the maize export ban is still in place a lot of grain is leaving Zambia for neighbouring countries especially Zimbabwe. He said this has left many agro traders asking all if the Ministry of Agriculture has lifted the maize export ban. Mr. Maviya said agro traders have spent a lot of money on fumigating and storing the maize and that they can only recover the huge costs by exporting maize as soon as possible.