Puma energy Malawi Limited Managing Director Davies Lanjesi says he is confident Malawi will not experience a fuel shortage this year.

Lanjesi was speaking in Blantyre on Friday during a graduation dinner for 21 individuals who underwent a 10-day intensive Licence to Operate (LTO) training.

LTO equips individuals with the necessary skills to run Puma Filling stations.

Lanjesi attributed the anticipated stability in availability of fuel in 2013 to proper planning by key stakeholders in the industry.

“I think where we stand now, the country has come up with proper planning as far as importation of fuel is concerned. I am sure all Malawians will agree with me that we have forgotten about queues. There were a little bit of resurfacing of product shortages in the initial part of December, but then that was sorted out.

“In the meetings that I have been party to, all the stakeholders, all the key decision makers are prioritising fuel and that’s why I am more optimistic that this year we may not suffer, see or witness any fuel shortages in this country because all the key stakeholders have agreed to give priority to fuel importation, medicine and fertiliser as key strategic commodities for this economy,” said Lanjesi.

He noted that at the moment Malawi h as nine days of fuel cover, meaning that the country could run normally for a good nine days if there were any interruptions in the supply chain.

Lanjesi added that his company, which is a market leader, has enough stocks for over 30 days.

On the LTO programme, Lanjesi said in accordance with the Malawi Energy Policy, all companies are expected to give all the retail sites to Malawian entrepreneurs as a way of empowering them.

“So Puma follows that. In fact, all of our filling stations are operated by Malawians. But we understand that running a filling station is not an easy job.

“So we do recruit the dealers and then take them through a 10-day intensive training where we share with them our expectations and all the success factors so that at a time we are giving them a Puma retail site for them to run, we are assured that they will succeed because our industry is volume and capital intensive,” said Lanjesi.

Among other things, the prospective dealers are drilled in working capital management as well as safety and security.

One of the graduates, Ireen Wirima thanked Puma for the training.

Wirima assured Puma that the graduates will put to good use all that they have learnt during the 10- day training.

Puma Dealer Council Chairperson David Anthony thanked t h e company for maintaining good working relationship with its dealers.

He urged the graduates to exercise financial discipline when given the chance to run a filling station.