By Rudo Saungweme

In a move meant to detect fuel leakages and have an effective management of fuel reserves, Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) plans to establish a national remote fuel monitoring and management system.

The system will help ZERA in tracking fuel loadings and the movement of tankers.

“The fuel monitoring system is based on automatic tank gauging and reporting. The system will track fuel loadings, movement of the tankers, offloading of fuel at retail sites, as well as fuelling by motorists,” said the source.

He revealed that the total cost of the system is estimated at RTGS $9 425 million dollars per site for the country`s fuel retail outlets.

The source added that the system gives immediate site and remote visibility to approved third parties.

“The system gives immediate site and remote visibility to approved third parties such as Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) and the Ministry of Energy and Power Development,” revealed the source.

Asked on the funding of the remote fuel monitoring and management system, the source indicated that it could either be on a cost recovery basis or underwritten by the owners of the fuel sites.

Economists have suggested that the costs be borne by the owner of the fuel retail site, which could be considered for a rebate under the site infrastructure development benefit.