Blantyre, Malawi     — A trainload of diesel fuel has arrived in Malawi for the first time in 21 years, signaling the end of fuel shortages.

Malawian authorities said the arrival Tuesday marked the beginning of regular fuel transport to the country on a newly refurbished rail line from the Indian Ocean port of Nacala in Mozambique.

The change is also a cost-cutting measure for Malawi, which has long transported fuel by road.

Clement Kanyama, chief executive officer of the National Oil Company of Malawi, spoke as local television broadcast images of the train, carrying 580,000 liters of fuel, as it was arriving in Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital.

“This is an organized form of transport with fixed routes and schedules contributing to the speedy delivery,” Kanyama said. “Once the train departs, there is nothing that delays the train until it stops” in Malawi.

This was the first arrival of fuel by train in Lilongwe since 2003, following repairs to Malawi’s rail system by Central East Africa Railways early this year.  

“We are even going to have more than this,” said Chandra Mohan Singh, general manager for Nacala Logistics, a company that operates the country’s railway infrastructure. “In fact, next week we are expecting to bring a much longer train transporting approximately 2 million liters at this very same place. At Nacala Logistics, we have the capacity to transport 4 million tons of goods.” 

Economist Adam Chikapa Guys told VOA that the restoration of railway services from Mozambique to Malawi was probably the best news for Malawi’s transport sector, which he said has been spending a lot of money to move fuel by road.

“And this means that the money that was used for transportation for the fuel is now going to be used for other things that are equally important in this country as far as development is concerned,” he said.

Chikapa said he doubted public expectations that the move would also lead to the reduction of fuel pump prices in Malawi. 

Malawi’s minister of trade and industry, Sosten Gwengwe, said the move would help lower the cost of production of various goods, saying manufacturing industries would be able to work in a more affordable manner than before.
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