The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
Daniel Mjema
28 December 2011
Moshi — Fuel shortage has hit Kilimanjaro Region, shooting up the price of the commodity. A litre of petrol has been sold at between Sh2,000 and Sh3,000 contrary to an indicative retail price of Sh1,950 announced by the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (Ewura) for Kilimanjaro Region.
Spot checks by The Citizen have established that the shortage started on Tuesday and by yesterday there were long queues at filling stations that had fuel in stock.
Though the shortage was a nuisance to motorists, it was a good omen to some youth who have been buying the fuel in large quantities and retail it at increased prices to frantic motorists.
Youths have been running around with 20-litre jerry cans with fuel looking for motorists, especially those who cars have stalled due to lack of fuel. According to Gido Marandu, a manager for a network of fuel stations owned by a prominent businessman in Moshi, Mr Patrick Ngiloi, the shortage is partly caused by bureaucracy at wholesale depots in Dar es Salaam.
Mr Marandu said that there were many oil tankers, which have been stranded waiting for the commodity at the depots.”But we have been informed that our lorries have already been loaded with fuel and have begun the journey to Moshi. We hope that our stations will have enough supplies by tomorrow (today) morning,” he said.
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