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By ZamChro Correspondent

The Government will determine the future of Indeni Petroleum Refinery once the purchase of 50 per cent shares from Total has been completed, Energy and Water Development Permanent Secretary, Peter Mumba has said.

Total has indicated its intention to pull out of the refinery, and the Government wants to buy back the 50 per cent shares, but it has not yet decided if it would take full ownership or re-offer the partial shareholding to another investor.

Mr Mumba said the Government was waiting for the conclusion of Total’s pull-out and subsequent assumption of total ownership of the refinery before making a decision of its future.

“I can simply say that once the exercise of the shares is completed, we shall go back to the drawing board as Government and re-examine the future of Indeni,” he said.

Speaking in Lusaka, Mr Mumba said Indeni Petroleum Refinery in its current form could not meet the demands of the economy, hence the need for the Government to re-examine it.

“Indeni in its present form cannot meet the demand of this economy, that is why you have seen that any little shake-up of the whole country is rolled to the ground,” he said.

Mr Mumba said the capacity of Indeni refinery was not sufficient and, therefore, the plant needed huge sums of money to bring it to the level where it could satisfy the demand of the economy.

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