By EPN Reporter
MBABANE – There is light at the end of the tunnel for the Strategic Oil Reserve facility, as a team of experts from Taiwan has been assembled to start building the oil storage centre.
This was said by Prime Minister His Excellency the Right Honourable Russell Mmiso Dlamini today on his Facebook page. He was reporting to the nation about a meeting, which took place on Friday in the morning at Cabinet Offices in Hospital Hill, Mbabane.
The meeting was between the prime minister and his team of Government officials, together with a team of experts from the Republic of China (Taiwan), who were led by Taiwan Ambassador to Eswatini, His Excellency Jeremy Liang.
Dlamini said he was honoured to receive the Ambassador of the Republic of China, Taiwan in Eswatini, H.E Jeremy Liang, and a delegation from the Overseas Engineering and Construction Company (OECC) at the Private and Cabinet Office on Friday.
“Our discussions centred around the long-awaited strategic oil reserve facility at Phuzumoya, one of the projects pioneered by His Majesty King Mswati III, aimed at ensuring that Eswatini becomes energy secure. We are grateful to His Majesty for his visionary leadership and to Taiwan, for their continued support and for ensuring that this project finally takes off,” Dlamini said.
He said a team of experts from Taiwan, composed of engineers, and project management experts had been assembled to deliver advanced designs. The premier expressed excitement at the many job opportunities that this project would present and the benefit that would be derived by Eswatini companies through partnerships.
The prime minister promised that the Government would be setting up a committee that would manage the project so that if there were any bottlenecks, these should be addressed immediately. The Friday meeting took place almost two days after Minister of Natural Resources and Energy Prince Lonkhokhela had met Ambassador Liang to discuss the same issue.
The meeting took place on Wednesday last week and it was described as being fruitful. The meeting was focused on building the Strategic Oil Reserve at Phuzumoya. During the meeting with the Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in the Kingdom of Eswatini, the minister was in the company of the Principal Secretary Dorcas Dlamini and the Principal Energy Officer Candy Stromvig.
The country currently holds no fuel stock reserves, bulk fuel storage infrastructure in the country is very limited, and this makes the country economically vulnerable should any disruption occur in the supply chain outside or inside its borders.
