Fuel price drops as supplies improve
By Thelma Chikwanha
Thursday, 27 January 2011 14:42
HARARE – Fuel supplies have improved forcing the price to go down at some
garages which had taken advantage of the scarcity during the past week and
hiked the price by 25 cents per litre.
A survey conducted by the Daily News showed that most service stations had
reduced their prices to between US$1.29 and US$1.40 per litre down from
between US$1.45 and US$1.55 per litre.
Minister of Energy and Power Development, Elton Mangoma who came under fire
last week because of the fuel crisis confirmed that supplies had improved
significantly.
“Fuel supplies started to improve last Saturday and have become normal,”
Mangoma said.
He said government had set the maximum selling price for petrol in at
US$1.40 per litre and US$1.30 per litre for diesel. But some garages are
still charging as much as US$1.45 per litre for petrol and US$1.35 for
diesel.
“When there are shortages, we cannot force garages to reduce their prices
because doing so will send fuel to the black market where it would be sold
at exorbitant prices,” he said.
Last week, the country faced fuel shortages that negatively affected every
sector of business. The ministry of Energy and Power Development attributed
the shortages to the increase in fuel prices on the world market and
governmen’s lack of funds to purchase fuel in bulk.
Steve Chigora, a Harare motorist believes that the fuel crisis could easily
be avoided if a policy on energy were put in place.
“In the absence of a policy on energy, scenes like these are likely to be a
common sight as there is no contingency plan in place,” Chigora said.
Minister Mangoma said that plans to have the policy put in place where at
an advanced level.