August 05, 2013 [Daily Mail] - Government has commissioned a 25 million-litre fuel storage facility in Lusaka built at a cost of about K132 million to ensure smooth supply of petroleum products on the market.
The depot will store 14 million litres of diesel, 10 million litres of petrol and one million litres of kerosene. Commissioning the facility in Lusaka yesterday, Minister of Mines, Energy and Water Development Christopher Yaluma said the country faces challenges in the energy sector due to inadequate storage infrastructure for petroleum products.
Mr Yaluma said this problem has compelled Government to start constructing provincial fuel storage depots and rehabilitate petroleum infrastructure at Indeni, TAZAMA and the Ndola fuel terminal.
“The commissioning of the Lusaka fuel storage depot marks a very special occasion in the petroleum sub-sector of our country. This occasion is special because as you might know, our country has in the past encountered challenges in the smooth supply of petroleum products to the market,” he said.
Mr. Yaluma said the Lusaka depot will service Southern, Western and Lusaka provinces.
The minister said the project has been funded by Government through its strategic fuel reserves fund. He said currently, the country’s daily consumption rate is two million litres of diesel, one million litres of petrol and 8,000 litres of kerosene. The minister said the Lusaka depot will be able to store eight days of the national consumption.
“With the planned storage infrastructure in place countrywide, the national storage capacity will be a total of 90 million litres, which at current consumption levels translate into 30 days,” Mr. Yaluma said.
He said the Lusaka fuel storage facility is part of the first four depots in the first phase of the provincial fuel store houses construction programme.
Mr. Yaluma said the first phase of the programme includes Mongu and Solwezi where works are still in the initial stages but are expected to be completed in the next 12 months while Mpika where works have reached an advanced stage is expected to be commissioned in the next two months.
The minister said the second phase of the programme will target construction of fuel storage depots in Choma, Kapiri Mposhi, Chipata, Kasama and Mansa which are expected to be completed in the next two years.
