WHEN reports of fuel shortages in Lusaka emerged, coupled with images of panic and confusion that gripped most motorists and citizens, it just went to show how vulnerable a nation can be without the precious commodity.
While ideally, fuel is the single most valuable driver of a nation’s economy, it all seems a bit academic when discussed in boardrooms or offices and can appear not so important.
However, images of motorists forming long queues  at filling stations, certainly brings things into perspective and adds a dose of reality to a situation.
A lack of fuel certainly has the potential not only to create problems in the transport sector, but can easily slow down other sectors such as manufacturing and agriculture, just to name but a few.
This is why Zambia, recognising that it is landlocked and depends on neighbours in the transportation of fuel, has devised a system to help ensure constant supply.
A two-pronged plan of getting feedstock for processing at Indeni Petroleum Refinery through the TAZAMA, and the importation of finished fuels via Nakonde from the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam, has sustained the Zambian economy thus far.
The procurement of fuel is also supplemented by the oil marketing companies that also bring in supplies of their own, besides purchasing from TAZAMA.
It is a delicate system that can easily break down when one or more elements are not in place.
This may be due to conditions at play or because someone somewhere neglected to play their part in ensuring that this intricate chain of supply does not break.
Government is aware of the daily, monthly and quarterly fuel needs of the country and therefore plans for specific amounts of fuel to be procured and at specific times.
This is done so that at no time,  should Indeni run out of feed stock to process which would ultimately lead to fuel shortages.
That is why it is important for constant checks in the procurement process to ensure that all bottlenecks that impede smooth supply are removed.
Therefore, there is no need to have a situation where there is poor communication between the Ministry of Finance and that of Energy, concerning payments for the much-needed feedstock, for it to be pumped to Ndola for refinery.
Government should thus take to task those charged with ensuring that these payments are made systematically to ensure continuity.
Schedules of consumption and stock levels should always be monitored closely so that we don’t have a situation where Indeni runs out of feedstock to process because it was withheld at the port due to a delays in clearing payments.
Even well-laid out plans do not always work out and this is true in any situation because nature, as well as human action tend to at times spoil such plans.
While Indeni was shut recently, authorities transported fuel by road through the Nakonde border, to plug the gap created by the refinery but even that was fraught with many challenges.
Not least the riots that engulfed Tunduma, the border town of Tanzania with Zambia, preventing more than 200 tankers from crossing over into Zambia and mitigating the fuel crisis in some parts of the country.
That is why more planning and more care should go into ensuring that there are as few breaks as possible in the fuel supply chain in order to maintain a positive economic and social outlook for the country. OPINION