SA fuel summit on the cards
Jul 02 2009 13:45
Johannesburg - A summit on the rising costs of fuel will be held by Energy Minister Dipuo Peters, her department said on Thursday.
"She will call a summit of all stakeholders to discuss the
rising prices of all fuel - not only petrol," said spokesperson Bheki Khumalo.
Subsidising the price of some fuels was not on the cards.
"I can rule out any subsidies."
Any discussion on a change in the government's current formula of petrol price determination would include the country's unions.
"And the summit won't only be about fuel prices, it will also discuss the Liquid Fuels Charter."
While the minister was pleased with the progress the charter had made, she was "far from satisfied" with the charter in general.
Last month Peters told the African Energy and Mineral Forum that the work that had been done on the actual implementation of the charter was "not very impressive".
She said two evaluations conducted to measure progress on implementation of the charter's provisions indicated the industry had not been able to comply with the crucial elements of ownership, control and procurement.
The Liquid Fuels Charter, signed in 2004, was designed to put 25%
of the industry in the hands of historically disadvantaged people by late 2010.
The department would announce the date of the summit soon.
- Sapa
