Maputo — There is no fuel crisis in the central Mozambican province of Zambezia, according to the provincial authorities.

Cited on Monday by the independent television station STV, the director of the Zambezia provincial infrastructure services, Joao Tsembene, said the province has stocks of 80,000 cubic metres of petrol, and 100,000 cubic metres of diesel.

"Our province is not in crisis', Tsembene said. "There are some irregularities in fuel supply at some points, but in general there is no crisis'.

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He said that Zambezia has received a stock of fuel from the port terminal of the state fuel company, Petromoc. "Every step is being taken to reduce the time fuel pumps are without fuel. We are talking about two days without fuel for the Petromoc pumps, but the pumps of the other companies all have fuel'.

But in Maputo, the fuel shortages are continuing. Long queues of vehicles continue to build up at those fuel pumps where petrol and diesel are available.

The fuel shortages are discouraging citizens from travelling long distances. Many of the minibuses which used to carry passengers from Maputo to South Africa are parked. Would-be passengers have a long wait ahead of them.

A woman waiting for a bus to South Africa told "O Pais', that no transport was available. "There's no fuel', she said. "Right now, no transport is operating. We're just sitting here'.

Without fuel, and without passengers, transport operators are running at a loss. The bus drivers told reporters they do not know when they will be able to set off for South Africa.

Some drivers said they had tried to overcome the Maputo fuel shortage by refuelling their vehicles in South Africa - even though fuel is more expensive in South Africa than in Mozambique.