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Government again urges against fuel queues, motorists still ignore

19 May 2022

  • Kanchana says money scarce to release petrol ship harboured in Lankan waters
  • Government in talks with World Bank to utilise $ 160 mn for fuel
By Dinitha Rathnayake  Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera yesterday (18) repeated his request to consumers to not queue up at petrol stations, as the country is finding it difficult to find the money to release the latest stock of petrol harboured in Sri Lankan waters, but motorists were still seen around the country languishing for hours on end in queues leading up to filling stations. “We have enough diesel stocks. We will provide diesel continuously to the 1,190 stations islandwide in the coming weeks. There is no issue with diesel. But we do have a problem with petrol. There is a petrol ship waiting near Sri Lankan waters since 28 March, but we know that we cannot pay for it, since there are no US dollars for this purpose. We also owe $ 53 million for a previous shipment in January to the same shipper,” he stated. “Yesterday (18), the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) guaranteed a payment timeline within the first 15 days of August for the previous shipment, and provided a written promise to this effect. So now the company says that we can just pay the money for the new shipment, but we have no money yet,” said Wijesekera in Parliament yesterday.  However, he assured that the Ministry of Power and Energy has submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers a plan to acquire the necessary funds, and said that they hope to be able to release the stocks at least by today (19).  “That is why we request the public to not stay in petrol queues, as we are distributing only very limited stocks. We are also prioritising them for ambulances and other essential services. We express our regret, especially to three-wheeler drivers, but do not stay in petrol queues today,” he urged yesterday.  He also requested the public to not accumulate stocks of petrol. Furthermore, he said, if stocks are released today, then distribution will begin from tomorrow (20), and that it will take at least three days to streamline the distribution process. “There have been many questions as to why we do not consider importing fuel from countries that will provide it for a cheaper price. We have considered 39 out of 68 such proposals for suppliers, but the problem is that whatever we do, we cannot open letters of credit through the state banks. Even private banks are asking us to deposit the entire sum of money, and just for the imports for June, we need $ 530 million.” Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that the World Bank had provided financial assistance of up to $ 160 million on Monday (16), and that discussions are currently underway as to whether it can be used for fuel purchases.  “They have said that we cannot use it for fuel, but we are asking them whether we can. We are in Parliament now to solve these issues. There is no Opposition and Government here. We are here to serve the people. Nobody is talking about three-wheeler drivers. They cannot do their work. They are losing their daily wages and blaming Parliament,” said Wickremesinghe. Despite Government requests to refrain from queuing up to obtain fuel, people remain in long queues at filling stations across Sri Lanka, for hours on end, in order to purchase fuel. The Morning observed long queues including in Colombo, Kurunegala, Vavuniya, and Kilinochchi. Speaking to The Morning, one person said that he had stayed in line from 5.30 p.m. until 1 a.m. the following day to fill up his vehicle. “We are in the queue for several hours now. The queue stretches on for up to four kilometres. We have to carry out our daily lives. I am a taxi driver. I have no option but to stay in the queue and fuel up my vehicle.” It was also observed that some people were staying in queues without knowing when the fuel bowsers would next arrive. Tense situations have been reported from several filling stations across Sri Lanka due to the shortage of fuel and kerosene. A protest in Kalutara, which lasted nearly two hours, ended after the Police intervened and promised to supply fuel. At the same time, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation has limited the supply of fuel for vehicles. Accordingly, the limit for motorcycles is Rs. 2,000, while it is Rs. 3,000 for three-wheelers, and Rs, 8,000 for cars, vans, and jeeps.


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