BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini wants the company set to build the Strategic Oil Reserve to set up in the country.
The company, which is known as CECI Engineering Consultants, is the one that is set to start constructing the Strategic Oil Reserve facility at Phuzumoya under Siphofaneni Constituency in the Lubombo Region.
According to information sourced from the Prime Minister’s Facebook page, Dlamini expressed the wish to have this company in Eswatini yesterday when he visited the company premises in Taiwan. This was after he had a meeting with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen.
The PM and his team, when visiting CECI Engineering Consultants, was welcomed by Chairman, Dr. Shih Yi-Fang. For this tour, the Prime Minister was joined by Minister for Natural Resources and Energy Prince Lonkhokhela and the Ambassadors of Eswatini and Taiwan. Dr Shih presented a progress report of the Strategic Oil Reserve project at Phuzumoya and its designs.
According to Dlamini, the Strategic Oil Reserve will help us secure the country’s fuel supply, guarding against the economic impacts of fuel supply disruptions from the market. Currently, Eswatini holds no fuel stock reserves, and bulk fuel storage infrastructure in our country is very limited.
“This makes us economically vulnerable should any disruption occur in the supply chain outside or inside our borders. Thus, this facility is a critical need,” Dlamini said. During the tour, the Premier and his team encouraged CECI to set up in Eswatini, as a reputable company that already employed about 2 300 in Taiwan and in other countries. “Their footprints are in the construction industry, and they are popular for building railway lines, bridges, and hospitals, among others,” he said.
The Strategic Oil Reserve facility is set to be constructed in six months’ time from now. His Majesty King Mswati III, when opening the First Session of the 12th Parliament last month, stated that there was a need for the facility’s construction to be done so that the country could have fuel security.
