By NOEL IYOMBWA
GOVERNMENT has written to the Petroleum Transporters Association of Zambia (PTAZ) to pinpoint large scale mining companies that are not using local transporters to supply 50 percent of their allocated fuel quantities so that action can be taken.
In a letter dated April 8, 2021, Mines Permanent Secretary Barnaby Mulenga said the information would enable Government to ensure that the directive of empowering local transporters was enforced. “As Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development, we would like you to identify and share with us information of all large scale mining companies that are not using Zambian transporters to transport 50 percent of their allocated fuel quantities. “This information will enable us to ensure that the Presidential directive of empowering local transporters is adhered to,” the letter reads in part. And Zambia Union of Tanker Drivers vice president, Vincent Shamilimo, said the association was happy that Government was implementing the policy.
Mr Shamilimo said the tanker drivers were happy that Government was taking their plight seriously. “Now all our trucks are busy and stable fuel supply is assured,” he said. The Zambian Tanker drivers were recently on a go-slow which led to fuel shortages across the country because Oil Marketing Companies shunned doing business with them in preference for foreign transporters.
The aggrieved drivers were demanding their 50 percent stake in fuel supply contracts which Oil Marketing Companies were giving to foreign companies. The drivers also explained that most of them had lost employment because tanker owners had parked their trucks due to lack of business.
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