The vision of the Malawi leader Lazarus Chakwera to rehabilitate the railway line into Mozambique is starting to bear fruits as the Petroleum Importers Limited has confirmed that it expecting to receive about 500 000 liters of fuel from Mozambique through Nacala railway line using cargo train today.
This is good news for the country because, according to PIL general manager Martin Msimuko, transportation costs are lower when petroleum is transported by rail.
According to Nacala Logistics, rail freight costs $0.06 (about K61.23) to $0.08 (about K81.64) per tonne per kilometer, while freight or road freight costs $0.10 (about K102.05) to $0.12 (about K122.46) per tonne per kilometer.
Following this news, there is a lot of enthusiasm on social media.
Innocent Tembo stated:
“This is exactly what we require. Let’s take the cheapest form of transportation available to us.”
However, the authorities have not stated if carrying petroleum by train will result in lower prices at the country’s gas stations.
Meanwhile, some Malawians are urging the government to restore the Mchinji railway line, which connects to Zambia, so that petroleum can be carried through train from Mbeya, Tanzania.
“There’s also a need to connect the railway line in Mchinji with Zambia, a distance of not more than 20 kilometers, so that we may acquire fuel from Tanzania (Mbeya) by train to our reserves at Kanengo. Malawi wake up please!!!,” Patrick Chipinda stated.
