02/12/2021
Harry Kalaba writes.
My take on Indeni!
1. Zambia’s daily fuel consumption is about 3.3 million liters per day of which 1.1 million liters is petrol and 2.2 million liters is diesel.
2. The main supply chain for this fuel is through Indeni Petroleum Refinery and Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs)
3. Indeni is fed by six tanker shiploads every year at the cost of between $46 million per shipload. The supply chain of Indeni has many offshoots such as kerosene, bitumen, heavy fuel oils, liquified gas etc. The supply chain therefore creates subsidiary employment for many people beyond those directly engaged at Indeni. So shutting down Indeni directly cuts jobs, and inevitably pushes the price of fuel up because OMCs are more expensive than Indeni. This does not only go against the UPND promise to create jobs but speaks volumes about possible private interests for personal gain among decision makers. Why opt for a more expensive option of OMCs instead of investment into modernization of Indeni. The missing link at Indeni is the component called the “hydro carbon cracker” which would enable Indeni process crude from nearer destinations such as Angola. This investment is between 300-500 million dollars. We can do this. How come we make six payments of $46 million of shipments in one year? That is about $276 million or more, so we can either borrow or serve for this. How come we borrowed $275 million for the ugly bridges in Lusaka from the Indian exim bank? How come we borrowed $273 million for digital migration project? What about the $470 million for the Kafulafuta dam?; $380 million for the presidential jet and few military items?
Let us fix the fuel supply chain for once; fix Indeni and fix the Tazama pipeline.
