National Oil Company of Malawi (Nocma) says it has started receiving fuel and dispatching it to its strategic reserves for testing.
The fuel reserves in the country’s three regions, with a combined capacity of 60 million litres, were constructed with a line of credit from the Indian Government.
“We are excited with what we have seen and hopeful that we will not completely run out of fuel in the country,” said George Mkondiwa, board chairperson of Nocma, after touring the fuel reserves at Matindi in Blantyre.
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He said the reserves, which were also constructed in Lilongwe and Mzuzu, will service Malawians in the unlikely event of the country being unable to bring fuel in the country.
“We embarked on this project to avoid the reoccurrence of the unfortunate situation where we have no fuel. We are now at a stage where we are just finalising minor things in preparedness of the formal commissioning of the facility,” said Mkondiwa, who is also Chief Secretary to Government.
Nocma chief executive officer Robert Mdeza said in an interview the project is significant move towards ensuring fuel supply in the country in case of unforeseen circumstances.
“We recognise and accept that we are a landlocked country and that the source of fuel is too far,” he said. n
