The Zimbabwean government has gazetted a Petroleum Bill that seeks to establish a Petroleum Regulatory Authority that will regulate and license persons in respect of retailing, producing and procuring petroleum products, the state-owned Herald newspaper reported on Tuesday.
The functions of the authority would also include ensuring the provision of sufficient petroleum products for domestic use.
“The activities of the authority would be directed by a board consisting of five members to be appointed by the minister of energy and power development after consultations with the president.
“Under the proposed law, the minister of energy and power development would be empowered to issue policy directions to the board,” the paper noted.
The board would be required to submit a report to the minister on its activities annually. The procurement, selling or production of petroleum products would only be done after obtaining a licence from the authority, the newspaper said.
“Zimbabwe has been facing intermittent fuel shortages over the past six years owing to limited foreign currency supply, the effects of which have been felt across key economic sectors such as mining, tourism and manufacturing.
“The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) last month unveiled a $50-million revolving fuel import facility with which the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim) would import fuel for both private and public sectors,” the Herald noted.
Zimbabwe needs $40-million for its monthly fuel requirements, it stated.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance Dr Herbert Murerwa had issued a notice postponing the expiry date of bearer cheques to December 31 2006, the Herald said.
Bearer cheques were introduced as legal tender by monetary authorities in 2003 as a temporary measure to “stem the cash crisis that had gripped Zimbabwe then”.
Initially, bearer cheques were due to expire in July and December 2004 through a gradual phase-out plan, but were later extended to allow monetary authorities to work on the broader task of introducing a new currency, the Herald said. – I-Net Bridge