Focus Media (Kigali)
Rodrigue Rwirahira
10 January 2009
In order to address the acute fuel shortage the country is experience, the ministry of trade and industry last week announced measures which include limiting the maximum amount of fuel for private car-owners.
Over the last week, long queues were seen at petrol stations. Often, priority was given to "bond" holders, or stations resorted to rationing that could go as low as a maximum 3000frw per car irrespective of the type and use. This particularly hurts taxi minibuses that operate long routes upcountry.
The cause of this misery was an acute fuel shortage, which became manifest early December. However, having studied the causes of the problem, the ministry of trade and commerce has now stepped in to bring back order.
"Petrol stations shall not serve people with jerricans and will serve a maximum of Frw 15.000 per vehicle," Minister Monique Nsanzabaganwa announced, adding, however, that public transport vehicles shall not be rationed. She also remarked that petrol stations will be inspected, and invited petrol company managers to act proactively with their ground staff.
The shortage has been caused by maintenance work at Kenyan petrol stores and pipeline, which resulted in insufficient fuel being pumped from Mombasa to the Eldoret store, which is the supplier of fuel and diesel in almost all Great Lakes countries including Rwanda.
According to Antoine Ruvebana the permanent secretary in Minicom, Eldoret is experiencing a high demand of fuel from all these countries, and due to the maintenance work was faced with a shortage. This explains why, even if international petrol prices have gone down, Kenya did not follow suit. Moreover, the insecurity at the coast of Somalia also plays a role.
In an initial reply to the fuel shortage, Minicom had sent a delegation to Kenya, which found that Kenya consumes 62% of the diesel from the pipeline system, whereas DRC, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Northern Tanzania get 38%; for premium, this is 48% and 52% respectively.
Moreover, the current pipeline is unable to cope with the demand and part of the fuel has to be trucked from Mombasa and Nairobi, and it can take 60 days from the port of loading to being discharged in western Kenya. Therefore, price adjustments come with the same delay.
The delegation also found that problems of limited loading capacity in western Kenya will continue until an extension of pipeline for transit and export of petroleum products is finished around 2010.
According to Minister Nsanzabaganwa, imports have now resumed, but trucks still spend long days and even months in the queues in Eldoret, Kisumu, Nakuru, and Nairobi. On December 10, about one million liters of PMS had landed in our country.
Another five million liters are in transit and expected to arrive by December 20. These quantities are equivalent to 29 days, which should see the country through the first week of the New Year.
In addition, trucks with a combined load of 3.650.000 liters are still waiting in the queues at various loading points in Kenya.
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