Government will implement a National Fuel Marking programme to ensure consumption of clean fuel and curb malpractices such as smuggling, Energy and Power Development permanent secretary Partson Mbiriri has said.
BY MUNESU NYAKUDYA
In a speech read on his behalf by the Energy ministry’s principal director Steve Dihwa at the Global Fuel Economy Initiative (GFEI) inception workshop held on Friday, Mbiriri said smuggling invariably resulted in the importation of bad quality fuels, thereby posing risks to vehicles.
“As the government we have so far not yet taken many initiatives with regard to the importation of clean and fuel-efficient vehicles. However, plans are now underway in this direction,” Mbiriri said.
He said that the success of the GFEI was hinged on the support of various stakeholders including arms of government, policymakers and policy implementers.
“The Ministry of Energy and Power Development is therefore requesting for your support and co-operation in ensuring that this important initiative sees the light of the day.
“To address the gap, vehicle fuel economy studies are required. There have been attempts by various quarters to do just that in the past. However, the studies were done at a very small scale using a few vehicles, making the tests conducted exploratory in nature. In order to properly inform decisions-making on vehicle fuel economy, there is need for more comprehensive studies of the entire vehicle fleet in the country,” he said.
Mbiriri said the fuel economy initiative study also needed a detailed inventory of the current vehicle population in Zimbabwe for it to be a success.
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“This will include an analysis of the vehicles assembled or imported into the country from as far back as 2005, taking into account a number of parameters which include the fleet age, composition and model.”
He said the comprehensive study was expected to give concrete evidence on the current fuel economy and trend of every category of vehicles, as well as provide a baseline for vehicle fuel efficiency improvements in the country.
