The newly-appointed Minister for Energy and Power Development, Fortune Chasi has spoken for the first time since his swearing-in by President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Wednesday at State House. Below is what he said:
ENERGY UPDATE: yesterday I had my first contact with the fuel industry. The meeting was in response to their request to give me their response to the new fuel prices. ZERA was present. So was ZRP. ZERA will, in accordance with its mandate, consider this. We agreed to meet quarterly.
I took the opportunity to reiterate the need for them to comply with licence conditions and to deal with matters of favouritism and black market fuel and general corrupt practices. They are meeting ZERA this morning to identify malpractices and how to deal with them.
I pointed out that I expect ZERA, whose Board, was present, to take charge of the industry as contemplated, in particular, their MONITORING. I pointed out that I am urgently working on remote monitoring of fuel movement. I need real-time information on what is happening to fuel.
ENERGY UPDATE: I have had discussions with Mr Sakala of IDBZ concerning OSBORN DAM project. We need to expedite the execution of all projects. A more detailed update will follow on this and other projects.