Treasury is losing up to 30% in revenue through illegal fuel dealers, a Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera) all stakeholders meeting on fuel marking heard yesterday.
by PAIDAMOYO MUZULU
The fuel marking project is a Zera initiative to improve fuel quality and reduce the rising incidence of dumping and resale of diluted fuels on the market that in the long run affect vehicles.
Zimra acting commissioner for customs and excise Tichawona Chiradza told the stakeholders that illegal fuel trading and dilution were severely affecting revenue collection.
“The quantity of fuel that is supposed to be in transit and is now being sold on the market is high. We are losing revenue from fuel duty that could be as high as 30%. There are a lot of losses being recorded as can be evidenced by the recoveries that have been made in the past,” he said.
Zera complained that there was an upsurge in paraffin and Jet A1 imports into the country. These two fuels come into the country duty-free and are used to dilute diesel that will then be sold cheaply on the market.
Zera chief executive Gloria Magombo said fuel marking would reduce this trend and save the motoring public from servicing costs. Fuel marking involves the use of a unique, proprietary, patented and invisible identifier that is added to fuel in traceable concentrates in particles per million (ppm) or particles per billion (ppb).
Magombo said Zera was working on the new regulations to support fuel marking and could be ready as early as November.
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“We expect that fuel marking will be implemented as early as January 2017 and we are currently finalising the draft Statutory Instrument that would be used in regulating fuel marking. If all goes according to plan, the regulations will be gazetted by end of November,” she said.
Magombo added the authority would soon advertise a tender for companies that want to provide fuel marking services in the country.
