FUEL dealers in Jinja have asked the Government to set up a national regulatory body to oversee fuel importation to avert future shortages.
Musa Yusuf, the chairman of Hared Petrol Company, said the body will fight for the rights of registered fuel companies.
He added that registered companies from Uganda could not import fuel directly from the Kenyan pipeline in Eldoret unless they were also registered in Kenya.
The energy minister, Daudi Migereko, however, recently said the fuel shortage was due to technical problems on the pipeline between Mombasa and Nairobi, adding that trucks had started ferrying fuel from Kisumu and Eldoret.
Ahmed Osman, the Busoga kingdom trade minister, urged the Government to set up fuel reserves that can last for over a month when such crisis occurs.
A supervisor at Shell Kiira petrol station in Jinja said their diesel pumps have been empty for over a week.
Most filling stations reported acute shortages of diesel. Vehicle operators from other districts were in Jinja with containers in search of diesel.
Fuel prices have gone up in the last one week and in some places, the prices of diesel is higher than that of petrol.
Fuel dealers want regulatory body
