President Mnangagwa commissions USD 7.3 million NOIC ethanol plant in Harare

Harare (New Ziana) –The Zimbabwe government is committed to ensuring the bio-fuel sector is able to sustainably supply feedstock for the blending of petrol with ethanol, President Emmerson
Mnangagwa said on Tuesday.

He was speaking in Harare at the commissioning of the National Oil Infrastructure Company of Zimbabwe (NOIC)’s 6 million litre Mabvuku Ethanol and Handling facility constructed at the tune of US$7.3
million.

The development has resulted in the country’s storage and handling capacity of ethanol increasing by over 100 percent from 5.2 million litres to about 11.2 litres.

President Mnangagwa said the development is a strategic response towards accelerating the implementation of the national policy on ethanol blending and the use of cleaner fuels.

He said it is in keeping with the positive economic growth and fuel demand which now stands at over 3 million litres of petrol and 4 million litres of diesel per day.

“Over and above driving our import substitution policy, preserving foreign currency, creating employment, empowerment and wealth generation opportunities across the biofuel value chain, such a facility
consolidates the prevailing fuel availability and stability of the liquid fuel sector,” he said.

President Mnangagwa added that as the production of ethanol increases, the establishment of additional storage facilities in different parts of the country would also be considered.

He challenged players and stakeholders in the energy industry to continue upholding and implementing quality management systems that guarantee quality products to end users.

Such complementary infrastructure developments by NOIC are key in the realization of the national quest to be an effective and efficient land linked regional hub for fuel distribution in Southern Africa, he said.

“To this end, the Mabvuku Depot has now been dedicated to the re-delivery of fuel to surrounding markets, resulting in increased efficiency.

“Consequently, players in the fuel transport sector servicing the regional countries have largely been loaded out at this key installation. This has enabled the National Oil Infrastructure Company
of Zimbabwe to achieve a record volume through-put of fuel pumping on the pipeline of 1.93 billion liters in 2022,” he said.

President Mnangagwa applauded NOIC for also completing the first phase of the project to construct holding facilities for 2 000 metric tons of Liquefied Petroleum Gas to over 5 000 metric tons, thereby ensuring
sufficient buffer stocks and averting stock-outs.

He said NOIC and Companhia do Pipeline Mozambique-Zimbabwe Limitada (CPMZ) are synchronizing the capacity upgrade of the Feruka pipeline, for seamless operations and improved efficiencies.

This, he said, will culminate in an increased capacity of 3 billion litres, up from the current 2.19 billion litres of liquid fuel per annum.

New Ziana