OWN CORRESPONDENT, Nelspruit | Tuesday 3.10pm.
MOZAMBIQUE, Malawi and Zimbabwe are jointly planning an oil refinery at the Mozambican port of Beira to meet growing regional energy needs.
Malawi’s vice-president Justin Malewezi said a fully functional Nacala corridor will save his country about US55-million a year.
News reports in Blantyre on Tuesday said Iran and Malaysia were funding a feasibility study for the refinery, including a pipeline to Malawi and Zimbabwe.
The Nation newspaper said Malawi’s director of energy affairs, Charles Kafumba, would not indicate how much money Iran and Malaysia were providing. Sources in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs said Malawi is exploring the shortest and cheapest means of getting fuel following failure of the Northern corridor to Mbeya in Tanzania.
Also, the Nacala and Beira rail lines from Mozambique are not proving cost-effective, they said. Malawi is also working with Mozambique to upgrade port and railway facilities on the Nacala route, because Malawi needs to boost exports.
“Both Malawi and Mozambique have privatised their railways to stimulate increased private sector participation and competition on the route, which will lead to lower transport costs,” Malewezi said recently. But he added poor telecommunications in Malawi is a stumbling block to development. – African Eye News