Govt to close stations selling adulterated fuel, says official
A fuel truck from the Eastern border town of Malaba makes its way to Kampala. Government has promised to close stations found dealing in adulterated fuel. File Photo
What you need to know:
Prone. Border towns and Western Uganda found to have most outlets with tainted fuel.
Kampala. Government will close stations involved in selling adulterated fuel, a Ministry of Energy official has said.
Rev Frank Tukwasibwe, the Commissioner of Petroleum Supply Department, said such a measure together with sensitisation of customers on quality fuel will help reduce adulteration levels in country.
“We are planning to publicise names of fuel stations and if a certain station is named consistently, then we will be compelled to close it,” he said while closing a three-week quality fuel campaign in Kampala last Friday.
He said the Energy ministry and Uganda National Bureau of Standard (UNBS) will first publicise the names of those fuel stations, give them a grace period to sort themselves out and if they do not comply with quality standards, they will be closed.
He, however, did not say when the closing exercise will begin.
Rev Tukwasibwe said the customers are at the mercy of fuel stations and the government to ensure quality as they do not have capacity to fight adulterations due to lack of expertise and financial inadequacies, reasons he said have compelled the ministry to act that way to stop the vice.
The ministry of Energy, fuel companies and UNBS recently started a campaign on fuel quality awareness campaign in Kampala to tackle fuel adulteration.
The campaign which ended on Friday, revealed that single pump stations are the ones that mostly sell cheap but adulterated fuel which destroys vehicle engines.
UNBS executive director Ben Manyindo said while adulteration has reduced from 30 per cent in 2008 to 3 per cent now, continuous consumer sensitisation is key to curbing poor quality products on the market. He said the campaign will become an annual event.
However, constant fuel supply is needed if the country is to fight adulteration as most stations sell adulterated fuel during scarcity which normally hits the country at the beginning of each year.
Most affected
Uganda National Bureau of Standards report on fuel adulteration indicates that several retail outlets have been found with adulterated fuel especially in the western region. Border towns are also prone to tainted fuel.
