ENERGY and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA) has reassured the nation that there is enough stock of fuel, despite the recent decision to send back home a ship carrying substandard products.Director General of EWURA, Mr Felix Ngamlagosi, told a news conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday that there was sufficient reserves of fuel and people should not panic after rejection of the said shipment since it would not affect the supply of the same.
The Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) had late last year ordered the company contracted to import fuel under bulk procurement system to ship back to the UAE a total of 38,521 tonnes of petroleum products after they were found to be substandard.
He said the authority has enough reserves and will continue to receive more fuel shipments as scheduled and to the capacity of satisfying the local demand.
He added that as of Thursday, this week, the authority had in stock 255,052,370 litres for local consumption, 143.547 million litres for export and 27.875 million litres of diesel for the mining industry.
"People should not be worried on what TBS has done because it will not have any repercussions, as the above statistics show that there is enough reserves and we will still continue to receive more fuel," he reiterated.
He added that by regulating the price of fuel for 2015 and January 2016, the price of fuel has continued to drop in the world market which has impacted on the local price.
The decrease in price has been beneficial to the nation which has boosted the national income by recording 675b/- to ensure the quality of fuel delivered in the market. Ewura will continue to collect samples from filling stations, depots and tankers carrying fuel to ensure they meet the standards," said the Ewura boss.
However, he conceded that there were still unscrupulous businesspeople who were selling adulterated fuel, as out of 408 samples collected in 2015, 34 had failed the quality test.
"We discovered that 485,770 litres were adulterated and we decided to send the information to TRA so that those involved should pay tax accordingly before EWURA can slap penalties over contravention of business regulations," he said.
According to TBS, the shipment that was sent back was found to contain unwanted chemicals such as oxygenates and high levels of benzene and low levels of the Research Octane Number (RON), with the quality watchdog vowing to strengthen quality control measures this year through a motto; "Get rid of substandard products in the local market."