THE Government is still negotiating with the CPMZ, a Mozambican company that pumps fuel from Beira to Mutare, to upgrade the pumps, the Minister of Mines and Energy Cde Edward Chindori-Chininga has said.

Cde Chindori-Chininga said this during a tour of the newly commissioned CPMZ Feruka receiving terminal last week.

The new terminal was built eight months ago at a cost of $165 million (US$3 million) and it will handle more fuel per day than the old terminal built in 1963.

Terminal

The old terminal was capable of handling four million litres of fuel per day.

The new terminal has a capacity of handling at least six and half million litres a day and Zimbabwe consumes about four million litres per day.

Cde Chindori-Chininga said the upgrading of the Beira pumps would enable Zimbabwe, which gets about 60 percent of its fuel through the Beira pipeline to receive more fuel.

The other 40 percent of the fuel in the country came from South Africa by road and rail.

The new terminal is fully computerised and carries more safety features than the old one.

It is, however, limited to handling more than four million litres, which is the capacity of the pump in Beira.