President Emmerson Mnangagwa today met with a special envoy of Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi with whom he held further discussions on ways of increasing the volume of fuel being pumped through the pipeline from Beira to Harare.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting, the envoy, who is also Mozambican Communication Minister Carlos Mesquita said he was sent by Nyusi to follow up on how the two countries could increase fuel volumes to Zimbabwe.
“I came to discuss further submissions related with the transportation of liquid fuel to Zimbabwe through the pipeline from Beira to Feruka and also to Msasa, Harare. Because this issue of the pipeline is a lifeline for Zimbabwe therefore both Heads of State were really interested to make sure that the logistics of transportation of fuel to Zimbabwe goes smoothly,” he said.
“So far there are no big issues to deal with, but definitely we have to think about the future,” he said adding, “Because the pipeline has the capacity of two million cubic meters per year and the biggest volume of fuel being moved to Zimbabwe is 1.6 million cubic meters that is through the pipeline.
“It does not mean that there are no other means of transportation because it is happening by road and rail. So at the end, what comes through the pipeline plus the road and rail is slightly upwards of 1.6 million cubic meters and the volumes are increasing which is good.”
“The difference keeps us in a position to think as quickly as possible on how we can increase the capacity of the pipeline and we are already in discussion with CPMZ and also NOIC (National Oil Company) of Zimbabwe,” he said.
Carlos said the two leaders had earlier discussed the issue when they met in Russia and Botswana recently hence his deployment to further the discussions.
“Therefore I was instructed by President Nyusi to come over and discuss further with the government of Zimbabwe the way forward,” he said.
“What we have agreed with His Excellency the President (Mnangagwa) is we need to continue further discussions which are going to be in Mozambique next week comprising of Ministers of Transport and Communication, Mineral Resource and Energy from Mozambique and our counterparts from Zimbabwe,” said Carlos.
Zimbabwe is experiencing shortages of fuel due to scarcity of foreign currency with supplies coming in intermittently resulting in service stations going for days without the commodity and long queues forming whenever it is available.-New Ziana
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