By George Mponda

Karonga, January 11, Mana: Motorists in Malawi can now breathe a sigh of relief as more than 100 trucks each carrying 35,000 litres of Diesel and Petrol have arrived in the country from Tanga in Tanzania through Songwe Border in Karonga.

Speaking Saturday at Songwe Border, Minister of Energy Ibrahim Matola said following a policy shift in fuel importation by  President Lazarus MacCarthy Chakwera, the Government of the Republic of Malawi  and its appointed agent, the National Oil Company of Malawi (NOCMA), has procured 40,000 Metric Tons (about 51.5 million litres) of Diesel and Petrol from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

"This emergency fuel procurement aims at supplementing the normal fuel imports by NOCMA, Petroleum Importers Limited (PIL) and other licensed importers which have faced challenges in accessing fuel import financing leading to the current fuel shortages," said Matola.

"We planned to have 1409 trucks to haul the fuel from Tanga in Tanzania and Nocma has since put out adverts requesting eligible transporters to express their interest," he added.

The Minister has since urged Malawians to stand together in the face of challenges and work towards finding solutions, rather than taking pleasure in others' misfortunes, emphasizing that energy is the backbone of the economy.

On his part, Malawi Revenue Authority Deputy Station Manager at Songwe Border, Gibson Mzoma said to make sure that the trucks are processed in a speedy manner, they have been provided with five computers for the job.

"We  have assigned an officer to be working on the documentation for the fuel, other two are working on payments like toll fees and we have another computer which has been put at the bank to make sure that when all documents are processed, drivers  should not be queuing," said Mzoma

"The immigration department has also been appproached so that when fuel truck drivers arrive at the border, they have to be given a special priority. Likewise, we also talked with our colleagues from the Malawi Bureau of Standards who collect samples from each and every truck to measure the quality," he added.

The consignment of the fuel has been procured under the Kenya bilateral arrangement between the Government of the Republic of Kenya and the Government of the Republic of Malawi using Kenya's existing Government-to-Government arrangement with Abu Dhabi while Malawi works to put in place its own Government-to-Government fuel supply framework with Gulf countries.