Africa’s second largest producer of copper, Zambia, has just postponed its energy sector reforms to sometime in 2019. This was confirmed by Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy Emeldah Chola in an interview in the capital Lusaka.
She advised that the electricity and petroleum bills would be tabled and debated next year as parliament has prioritized the 2019 budget currently.
Chairman for Energy Forum Johnstone Chikwanda has however challenged this position citing that a procrastination will delay the required reforms needed to create the efficiency lacking in the industry.
Zambia announced in its 2016 fiscal budget that the state would be divorcing itself from the petroleum procurement process to allow for the private sector to manage and yield inefficiencies. This process has delayed as the requisite bills are yet to be tabled in parliament.
The copper producer is currently in the middle of a delayed cost of service study to determine the cost reflective nature of electricity tariffs. Last week the local press carried a notice that cabinet had nodded a strategic plan to implement ZESCO reforms aimed at transforming the the power utility into an efficient vehicle. Zambians are entangled in a spate of frustration as to when these pronouncements will yield fruit. The outcry has been that the value chain for fuel transportation is crowded by too many middle men a factor that contributes to exorbitant pump pricing.
There is need to prioritize these sector reforms to improve not only pricing but the cost benefit to end users.