By JOHN SAKALA
The Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) has delivered over one million litres of gas oil to Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia.
The delivery was made with the first train of 24 fuel-tank wagons of gas oil from the Port of Dar es Salaam, under a transportation agreement signed last year with Delta Energy Zambia Limited.
It took only four days to move the 1.1 million litres of gas oil from the Port of Dar es Salaam to New Kapiri Mposhi, with Zambia Railways Limited (ZRL) taking over and handling the final leg of delivery to Indeni in Ndola.
By comparison, such a bulky consignment could have involved more than 40 trucks and fourteen or more days to deliver by road transportation.
Announcing the successful delivery, the Managing Director of TAZARA, Bruno Ching’andu said this was the opportunity to demonstrate the Authority’s capability in transporting petroleum and other bulky products.
“We have unparalleled competitive advantage in the transportation of liquid and other bulky products and the decision by the Government of Zambia to allow the railways to move this product from the Port of Dar es Salaam gives us an opportunity to demonstrate our strong capability to deliver safely, speedily and at reasonable cost and we intend to do just that.
“We are thankful to both the Governments of Zambia and Tanzania for placing confidence in our ability. We are also thankful for the two Governments’ relentless efforts to ensure that we are continuously uplifting the performance of the Authority so that in the near future we can stand on our own feet and operate as a sustainable business entity,” Eng Ching’andu said.
TAZARA, in conjunction with ZRL, signed a contract with Delta Energy last year, to transport 5 to 6 million litres (5,000 – 6,000 metric tons) of petroleum from Tanzania to Zambia every month.
This is according to a media statement by TAZARA Head Public Relations Conrad Simuchile.
