The All Ceylon Filling Station Owners’ Association says that about 70 percent of filling stations island wide have been temporarily closed as a result of the current fuel crisis.
Chairman of the All Ceylon Filling Station Owners’ Association, W.S.S. Fernando stated that although many orders were placed about a month ago, sufficient fuel stocks have not yet been received, and according to the Minister, these stocks will be received shortly .
While the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation usually provides fuel within a few days after the orders are placed, Fernando demanded who will be responsible for the losses incurred to fuel station owners, as many of them obtain bank loans to place fuel orders.
While the prevailing stocks have been distributed with limitations, it had only been received by about 20percent of total filling stations, he mentioned.
It is reported that around 400 filling stations across the country have been temporarily closed due to the new payment system introduced by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC).
The CPC had introduced a new payment system recently, which requires filling stations to make the payment for ordered fuel stocks on the previous day.
The chairman of the Filling Station Owners’ Association, Kumara Rajapakse mentioned that, although the CPC has spelt out that the payment of the ordered fuel stocks should be done by the filling stations before 9.30 p.m. the previous day, it is difficult to do so, adding that they will not receive the fuel stocks the next day if the payment failed to be made.
Further, Kumara Rajapakse emphasized that nearly 400 filling stations had to be closed temporarily due to not being able to complete the fuel orders as scheduled.
“The other issue is that the filling station owners now have to pay a huge amount of money to obtain the fuel stocks, but money does not circulate in that way at any fuel station. Therefore, around 300-400 filling stations have been closed daily due to this.”
“There is no shortage of fuel. The minister has informed us to reduce fuel consumption by 4 percent , as the government needs a reserve of money to import fuel. Therefore, this situation continues to prevail.”
He pointed out that at present, as a daily priority list is used to provide fuel only to the respective filling stations in the respective areas though the fuel is being received as usual to the filling stations, the other filling stations remain closed.+
