According to the TPM director for business and projects, Lourenco Albino, the problem was solved on Saturday, and since then at least 120 of the 150 gas powered buses imported from India last year are circulating in Maputo during peak hours. Off-peak (between 09.00 and 15.00) the number of these vehicles on the roads falls to 80.
Cited in Tuesday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”, Albino said he did not know whether the solution to the gas supply situation was definitive or not – but since Saturday the TPM gases have been receiving fuel promptly and the supplying company, Autogas, has been ensuring that the sole filling station in Maputo does not run out of gas
“We haven’t yet spoken to our supplier to see whether the crisis has been fully overcome”, he admitted.
Albino did not say how much money TPM had lost with so many of its buses off the road for five days. “We have a commercial contract with our supplier that covers all these questions”, he said. “We shall discuss with them the problem of the losses caused during the interruption to gas supplies”.
Autogas representative Nuno Fernando confirmed that the situation is now back to normal. “We are receiving enough gas to supply our clients, and we think the shortage has been overcome”, he said.
Autogas buys the natural gas from the Matola Gas Company (MGC) which says that the crisis was caused by fluctuation in electricity supply which damaged the MGC equipment.
MGC solved the problem by importing a generator from South Africa to feed power to the compressors used to produce the compressed gas at the MGC sub-station in Beluluane, on the outskirts of the capital.
Post published in: Africa News