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Compiled by the Government Communication and Information System --------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 20 Jul 2007 Title: Residents to engage on Moz-Gauteng pipeline --------------------------------------------------------------- By Sydney Masinga Nelspruit - Mpumalanga residents will be given a chance to comment on the construction of a R4 billion fuel pipeline, set to cut through the province from Mozambique to Gauteng. The public meetings will be held next week in Komatipoort, Nelspruit and Emalahleni (formerly Witbank), Alfonso Niemand, project coordinator at SRK Consulting said Thursday. The company conducting the environmental impact assessment. The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) gave Petroline SA a licence on 29 March to build a liquid petroleum pipeline from an existing coastal fuel storage depot in Matola Harbour in Mozambique to Kendal in Gauteng, via Nelspruit in Mpumalanga. The pipeline will carry 3.5 billion litres of fuel per year and supply 25 percent of the fuel demand in Mpumalanga and Gauteng. In Nelspruit, an inland depot will be built, complete with rail and road loading infrastructure. Construction of the project is expected to start at the end of the year and the pipeline should be fully operational by the end of 2009. The agreement between Mozambique and South Africa to use Matola harbour, would reduce South Africa's reliance on Durban Harbour for liquid fuel. Nersa awarded the license to Petroline SA, as their bid was more cost effective than the state-owned Petronet's bid to build a larger 24-inch line from Durban to Johannesburg. The pipeline construction company also has a favourable empowerment profile as they have given women a 50 percent shareholding in the project. The project will be conducted jointly by Petroline SA and its equal partner in the venture, Petroline SARL of Mozambique. The pipeline could result in a drop in the price of petrol in Mpumalanga and Gauteng, in the long term. In April Petroline SA director Pinky Moabi said: "We hope that fuel prices will drop in Mpumalanga and some parts of Gauteng, because we will be getting fuel directly from the coast of Mozambique, and we know that fuel prices are lower on the coast than in inland cities." ABSA economist Chris Hart told BuaNews at the time, that the pipeline's effect on prices would in all probability be felt in the long, rather than short term. "The pipeline is unlikely to have an effect of the fuel prices in the shorter term as the consumers would have to pay for it." However, he said, "it might cut costs to a certain extent in the main market in the long run." "Currently, about two thirds of South Africa's fuel is imported. There is refinery capacity shortage in the country," said Mr Hart. - BuaNews |
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