By NATION REPORTER
CITIZENS First (CF) president, Harry Kalaba says the fuel pump price will continue to be volatile as long as Government does not put in place bulk strategic reserves for petroleum products.
Mr Kalaba said the long-term solution to the currently high fuel prices was transforming Indeni in Ndola from a mere separator to a fully-fledged refinery because it will then be able to refine crude oil into finished fuel and store it in bulk.
Mr Kalaba, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs in the previous regime until his resignation in 2017, said it was folly to think that conveying refined diesel from Tanzania to Ndola using the TAZAMA pipeline would result in a reduction in the pump price as the government was claiming. “If Indeni was equipped with the hydrocarbon cracker it would have the capacity to refine crude into fuel and store enough of it in bulk to last at least three months or more.
“What that will mean is that the prices of fuel will stabilise and begin to reduce because even if there is an increase on the international market it will not affect us. We will have enough old stock in the bulk reserves. So, there will be no need to increase the prices,” Mr Kalaba said.
The Energy Regulation Board (ERB) has been reviewing the pump prices of fuel monthly, which has created instability in the economy and triggered a sharp rise in the cost of living.
In November 2021 the price of petrol was K17.62 and diesel K15.59. By last month, the prices had since risen to K29.25 for diesel and K27.22 for petrol.