I really can’t understand our economic management.
Nobert Mumba Wrote;
1. We close indeni and convert it to receiving refined stock.
2. We also convert the pipeline to stop transporting crude oil to processed diesel and later processed petrol.
3. We announce 20-25 ownership in a refinery in Angola to process crude into finished products for us to benefit from cheaper oil and export of the surplus from the refinery.
4. Then we announce that we will be constructing a big refinery with capacity to process 60,000 litres of crude per day or 9.5m litres which we have no capacity to consume.
The Questions
1. Why did we close Indeni a Zambian asset only to bring in a foreign asset. Why didnt we just call for equity partnership.
2. What will happen to the converted pipeline and the fuel being transported on it as the intended refinery will have capacity to supply Zambias daily needs?
3. What will happen to the benefit we are supposed to derive from the Angola refinery given we will have enough, most likely more expensive, fuel from the new refinery.
4. How do we invest heavily in crude oil refining when we are urged to go electric vehicles?
5. Are we again signing fuel purchase agreements like so-called power purchase agreements that are disadvantaging Zesco
I am baffled and please don’t tell me we will be able to deal with the four without again having to waste money by closing the pipeline or leasing out cheaply the pipeline line. We are obviously cannibalising our own investments to our detriment. What do we really want?
How can you understand issues when you are ever using Nakachinda’s defective binoculars?
To be unable to understand something is no problem. Everyone experiences that sort of thing. In fact if we all understood everything, this would be a perfect world. But it only becomes a problem if you cannot discuss what you do not understand with more informed minds.
Have you tried to find out from any of the relevant stakeholders? You could be puzzled over something which can easily be explained. There is no harm in having so many sources of cheap oil, for example, Middle East is unpredictable, it’s usually politically unstable, so we want life to continue as normal as possible whatever the prevailing situation may be be. We are already doing that in the Energy (power) side. We now have hydro, thermal and solar, and come rain or drought, the effect can be very minimal.
I am sure you can also agree that Indeni was or is very old and has almost outlived its usefulness, so it was cheaper to sell it than maintaining it, i.e. ever incurring heavy running and maintenance costs. In short Indeni is no longer economically viable. You also bear it in mind that our economy is rapidly growing and the demand for fuel especially diesel has also gone up because we need it in other areas like Agriculture. I don’t think we shall have electric Tractors soon, that dream is still in the distant future. A lot of big machinery like buses, locomotives, heavy goods trucks, backup gen sets are all heavily dependent on diesel.
So just reserve your worries because there is nothing to worry about, what is happening is the development our country needs.