By ADRIAN MWANZA
FORMER Economics Association of Zambia president Lubinda Haabazoka has opposed the placing of Indeni on care and maintenance as it is a likely route to liquidation or privatisation.
Dr Haabazoka said the move had negative impacts because once oil tanker mafias took control over fuel importations, the country shall start having shortages because they would only import commodities that they deemed profitable.
He said Indeni was not just about 300 direct employees, it was about the entire infrastructure that was built from Dar es Salaam to Ndola.
Dr Haabazoka said in the area of energy security, the country’s first President Kenneth Kaunda in his wisdom decided to build Indeni because it was very cumbersome to move fuel in trucks and by rail.
“Indeni is also about energy security as tanker drivers will now hold government at ransom every time the Kwacha/Dollar rate shifts by a ngwee. Imagine also the damage to the roads and just the cumbersome nature of moving fuel on the roads,” he said.
Dr Haabazoka said he knew tanker owners might be happy about the closure of Indeni but this was about the Zambian people.
He said only $500 million was needed to upgrade Indeni and in August the country received a gift of $1.3 billion from the IMF.
Dr Haabazoka said that it was prudent that Government used that money for enhancing the country’s energy security.
He said if that money was earmarked for employing 40, 000 civil servants then Government needed to engage finance experts to advicse on how they could bring on board an equity partner as has always been the case.
“I know the Russians are interested, the Chinese are interested, the Middle East is interested but the west is not because they want the plant shut down. To shut down not only a legacy but compromise our energy security,’’ he said.
Dr Haabazoka said Zambia had experts like him and appealed to government to bring them on board to advise on what to do.
He said there were people willing to take charge of Indeni and reform it without even asking for a coin from the central government.
Dr Haabazoka said Indeni posted dividends through IDC so it was not a loss-making company and should avoid listening to those that wanted to lend the country $1.5bn in exchange for more liquidations, privatisations, tariff hikes among other things.
He said in 2017, the World Bank stated that the Indeni Petroleum Refinery was inefficient and technologically unsuited for current fuel needs and its capacity was too small.
“In order to meet increasing petroleum products demand both nationally and regionally, there are two choices (a) build a new modern refinery that meets current and future national and regional needs or (b) expand and modernise the present refinery to improve its efficiency and output,’’ he said.
Dr Haabazoka said building a new refinery was ruled out by its cost while rehabilitation, expansion and modernisation has been estimated at about US$500 million.
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