Despite initial supply issues,the new administration headed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe has taken immediate action to ease worries of a fuel and LP gas shortage of consumers who are being forced to wait in long queues to buy gas cylinders or fuel ,official sources said.
Special committee headed by former minister Sagala Ratnayake appointed by the new PM announced that they will be able to issue uninterrupted gas and fuel supplies to the market and fuel filling stations soon .
Thiswas revealed at a special discussion held with the participation of former minister Sagala Ratnayake , Minister Kanchana Wijesekera , top officials of the Central Bank, Finance Ministry, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), Litro gas company and the Bank of Ceylon.
It has been revealed that there was an issue of making payments for fuel shipments at present due to dollar shortage at present but all attempts will be made to clear fuel shipments which will be arriving in the country and which already anchored at the Colombo port.
A stock of Diesel from an oil tanker is unloading at the port and another Diesel shipment is expected to arrive in the island on May 19.and a LP gas shipment will reach Colombo port on May 17.
Litro noted that this tanker carrying 3500MT of gas reached the country on Monday (16).The Chairman of Litro Engineer Vijitha Herath said that US $7 Million will be paid for the shipment on Tuesday (17).
He further said that the distribution of the gas will start on Wednesday (18) after unloading commences tomorrow (17).
The Litro gas company official noted that it will be able to issue 100,000 gas cylinders to the market daily in the coming days and prevent any shortages.
However, he claimed that the company is facing heavy losses at the moment and that if it continues, it might have to suspend operations in the near future.
He noted that the company incurs a net loss of Rs. 2,000 per cylinder due to high global market prices.
