Fuel reserve renovation set to end in March 2013

The project, although delayed will be commissioned by March next year.

Jinja

Works to renovate the 30 million - litre fuel reservoirs in Jinja will be completed before March next year, according to Mr Bashir Musa Yusuf, the chairman of Hared Petroleum.

Hared Petroleum won the contract for the refurbishment of the reservoirs, which when completed, is likely to safeguard Uganda against volatilities resulting into supply inconsistencies.
Mr Yusuf told Daily Monitor during a tour of the site that his company had accelerated the renovations, setting March as the finishing deadline.

“The reserves should be fully operational by March. Our target is to have them fully restocked with 30 million litres of fuel before the Kenyan elections,” he said. He added: “While we do our part, the government should also play its role. The road that leads to the reserves and the railway line are both in shambles. The transformer at the reserve was vandalised before we started work and up to date it has not been replaced.”

However, according to the Ministry Energy, the renovation of the reserves has delayed as government had set December as the finishing deadline.

Last week, Mr Bukenya Matovu, the head of communications at the Energy ministry, said the refurbishment was on schedule and would be finished before December 31. However, according to Mr Saleh Kivejinja, the Hared chief internal auditor, the delays had been brought about by site vandalism.

“We toured this place and did an assessment which required mere renovation, however after winning the contract, we were shocked to find that most equipment had been vandlaised,” said Mr Kivenjinja.

The contract to renovate these fuel reserves was signed between Hared Petroleum and the ministry of Energy in March 2012 under a public-private partnership.

This was a few months after Hared Petroleum had won the multi-billion 10-year renewable contract to renovate and manage the reserves, after over five years of internal fighting over who would be awarded the deal.

The same contract was first awarded to Kenlloyd-Logistics in 2008 and then to Hared, before it was halted by Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority citing faults in bidding.

nkalungi@ug.nationmedia.com