Worried over by the abrupt shortage of petroleum products, Tanzania now
wants to purchase fuel that is destined for neighbouring countries, the sector
regulator said yesterday.
The Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (Ewura) has formed
a special team to seek the approval of the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) so
that fuel that is on transit to landlocked countries is sold in Tanzania in
order to avert a crisis in the face of dwindling fuel reserves.
It met with TRA yesterday in a bid to seek the authority’s
approval for change of status of transit fuel so it could be sold in Tanzania.
“As I speak now, the special team, led by Ewura’s director general
Haruna Masebu, is having discussions with TRA on how to go about the matter,”
Mr Kaguo said.
He said Ewura is the main guarantor of petroleum marketing firms that
have been earmarked to purchase transit petroleum on credit under an
arrangement with TRA.
The Ewura communication chief was, however, not in a position to state
the amount of oil cargo that would be purchased because only TRA has the
capacity and mandate to track the available transit cargo.
The oil marketing companies earmarked by Ewura under the arrangement
include Cameloil, Oryx, Gapco, Oilcom and GBP.
According to Ewura, the fuel scarcity has been occasioned by priority
berthing at the Dar Port, Kurasini Oil Jet (KOJ). Mr Kaguo said further that
the shortage of petrol that was experienced on Tuesday was a result of a
technical fault at the Kurasini Oil Jetty (KOJ) and interference in the priority
berthing system.
Meanwhile, a top official within TRA who preferred anonymity said it is
not the authority that prioritises fuel offloading at the Kurasini Oil Jetty
pipelines. “TRA is not concerned with
berthing priority issues at any level; our task is to collect tax,” he said.
He, however, admitted that the TRA was aware of prioritisation berthing
undertaken by the KOJ, but declined to give details.
“We received documents indicating prioritisation of oil offloading at
the KOJ but you may obtain more information from the commissioner general or
his deputy for detailed information,” he said.
All the same, he confirmed that a committee headed by the Ewura boss
has been holding discussions with the TRA deputy commissioner, though he didn’t
divulge any details.
The Citizen could not get a comment from the commissioner general
yesterday as he was tied up in a meeting in Dodoma. He referred the paper to
the acting commissioner for customs, who, however, we could not reach up to the
time we went to press.
But contacted for comment, on Tuesday, the Tanzania Ports Authority Corporate
Communications Manager, Mr Franklin Mziray, said there was no problem at the
KOJ.
He added that there were actually ships that were presently offloading
fuel. “We are not involved anyhow with the current crisis…we have been
receiving complaints since morning from several stakeholders that there are
problems at the KOJ but that is not true,” Mr Mziray maintained. Asked whether
Dar Port was involved in the priority berthing, he said it had no mandate to
dictate on that one.
He said Pacific Jewel was presently offloading fuel at the KOJ, noting
that the ship carried 19,719.48 tonnes of diesel and Jet A 17,737 while another
ship, Alpine Moment, had offloaded 22,373 and 14,980 tonnes of diesel and
petrol respectively.
Source: The Citizen,http://www.thecitizen.co.tz, reported by Ludger Kasumuni, Veneranda Sumila
and Mkinga Mkinga in Dar es Salaam
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