Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera has instructed people not to line up near petrol stations to obtain petrol within the next two days.
Making a special statement in Parliament today, the Minister said that the stocks of petrol in the country at present are limited and they are issued only for essential services.
The Minister said that people who carry out their daily activities including three wheeler drivers are suffering due to the shortage of petrol and apologized for that.
“So far we have not got dollars to release a petrol shipment and we only have very less petrol stock for essential service. We are sorry for that. Do not wait in queues. It will take another three days for distribution,” the Minister said.
He said a ship carrying petrol had been anchored in Sri Lankan waters since March 28 and had not been able to deliver the consignment due to lack of funds to pay for it. He said also US $ 53 million has to be paid for the stock of petrol delivered by the ship in January.
“We do not have dollars to release a petrol shipment since March 28 and we have to pay $53 million for a fuel consignment they delivered in January.
The Minister of Energy said the company has agreed to release the fuel tanker after the Central Bank made an arrangement to pay the due amount in August.
Accordingly, steps will be taken to find the required funds and to get the petrol consignment released after paying the relevant amount today or tomorrow, the Minister said.
Due to the situation, the Minister said people should not stay near petrol stations for the next two days to get petrol. He also said that it would take until next Sunday to restore the supply of petrol.
He informed the people that although the distribution of petrol would start from Friday (20), it would take about three days for it to be released through petrol stations.
The Minister of Energy said that the supply of diesel in the country has been restored and there is no issue with diesel supply.
The Minister said sufficient stocks of diesel have been received so far and steps will be taken to supply auto diesel and super diesel to all 1190 active filling stations in the country by this afternoon (18). He added that the supply of diesel will continue in the next few weeks.
“We also don’t have an issue with kerosene. However, we are selling a liter at 87 rupees whereas our import cost is around 350 rupees per liter. Also private buses use kerosene and charge the people at diesel rate,” he said.
Minister Wijesekera said the total amount to be paid at the expiration of the letter of credit for fuel is US $ 735 million and $530 million needed to import fuel in June.
courtesy http://www.colombopage.com/archive_22A/May18_1652859385CH.php
