FUEL SHORTAGE IN RURAL AREAS By Makaa Margaret The effects of fuel price adjustments have continued to hit motorists in the rural areas of Meru County where the commodity has become scarce. A KNA spot check found that most petrol stations in the rural market centers away from the major towns had no fuel and motorists had to travel to Meru town to fuel their vehicles and motorcycles. In other areas, public service vehicles ferrying people to and from Meru town have cashed in on the shortage by buying fuel in bulk to sell to those in the rural areas. A rural petrol station proprietor Mr. Francis Kimathi said although most suppliers claimed not to have fuel, he was suspicious that the problem was linked to the implementation of the VAT Act. Mr. Kimathi said some suppliers were reluctant to take the commodity into the rural areas especially where roads were not tarmacked due to the added transport and vehicle maintenance costs. He said the problem was further compounded by the fact that motorists were unwilling to travel to bigger towns in search of petrol because of dread of the mobile courts since most of the vehicles operating in the rural areas were not roadworthy. A petrol attendant in Meru town said the commodity had become very scarce and expensive following the implementation of the VAT Act 2013 adding that there was not enough fuel to distribute to the rural areas.
Posted on: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 09:00:00 +0000
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