Christopher Yaluma, Zambia's Mines and Energy Minister, stated that the country planned to build an oil refinery worth US$410 million. The move was hoped to be a solution to the ineffectiveness of the country's current facility. Yaluma said that the inefficient facility curbed the progress in the economy of the largest opper producer in Africa.
The Indeni refinery that could be found in Ndola was government-owned. It was built in 1973 and operated at around half its intended capacity of 1.1 metric tons per year. Indeni was "done away with, it's finished," according to Yaluma when he was interviewed yesterday in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia.
The Energy Regulation Board said that Zambia's fuel prices were among the highest in the whole sub-Saharan Africa. The regulator reported that investing in refineries would aid in lowering the cost of fuel.
"We will look at all possible financing models" for the oil refinery. Public-private partnerships were among the choices, Yaulma said.
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