UPND has no plans to revert fuel prices- Kapala

Kapala says the completion of the cleaning of the TAZAMA pipeline and the subsequent use of it to transport diesel at a cheaper transportation cost doesn’t automatically mean the new dawn shall revert to the quarterly review.

He says reverting to previous ways of adjusting fuel prices after months makes it hard to manage the debts owed to oil marketing companies and doesn’t make the pump price to be cost-reflective.

“What we are saying is that, with the use of the pipeline, bulk purchases and bulk storage can allow for quarterly reviews because then as a country we can stock fuels for about three months and this allows us to tie the pump price to true costs. Even then, it will simply be a consideration. And if the numbers are right, we can revert to quarterly review. Until then there is no plan to move from monthly reviews. Monthly reviews continue,” he said.

In a Facebook post seen by Zambia Eye, Kapala said last month he challenged stakeholders who had been affected by the monthly review of fuel prices to make formal complaints to government.

“So far, there is no evidence that the current monthly review of fuel prices being undertaken by the Energy Regulation Board (ERB) has affected the operations of any company,” Kapala said.

He said the decision to continue with monthly reviews is anchored on the knowledge that reverting to quarterly reviews of fuel prices will hurt the economy even further.

“The reverting to the 90-days review mechanism will increase the accumulation of debt already owed to Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs). The monthly fuel pump price review mechanism may not be popular to some citizens at the moment but it will yield the intended results in the long run,” he said.