Maputo, May 11, 2026 (Lusa) - The president of Mozambique, Daniel Chapo, has announced a strategic commitment to developing domestic fuel refineries and strengthening storage infrastructure to prepare Mozambique for future international supply shocks.
“Developing refineries in Maputo is our goal; we are working on this, in Beira, and on storage infrastructure in other parts of Mozambique, such as at the port of Quelimane,” said Daniel Chapo during the handover ceremony for 190 new gas-powered buses, which will bolster public transport in the capital, on Monday.
“We want to strengthen national energy logistics. We want a Mozambique that is less vulnerable to international crises, capable of responding to global challenges with internal capacity, strategic intelligence, planning, foresight and a vision for the future,” he added.
The delivery of 190 gas-powered buses to Maputo, with a population of almost 3 million, comes amid a severe fuel crisis in Mozambique, where diesel prices have risen by up to 45.5%.
“We must make it clear that the fuel crisis is global, much like what happened with Covid-19, which has passed; the fuel crisis will also pass.”
“We must take measures, individually or collectively, to mitigate the effects (…). And the delivery of these 190 vehicles today is precisely one of those mitigation measures,” he said.
Of the total buses delivered on Monday, 40 will be specifically allocated to school transport, including a fare subsidy.
The initiative is part of the "Transport for All" programme, a transport and logistics ministry scheme to provide all local authorities with adequate public transport services.
On 7 May, the head of state said that fuel price hikes were unavoidable, while maintaining that prices in Mozambique remain among the lowest in the region.
Despite this, widespread queues have persisted across the country for nearly a month due to petrol and diesel shortages.
On 7 May, the price of diesel rose by 45.5% and that of petrol by 12.1% per litre, as the government attributed the increases to international market prices.
A litre of petrol now costs 93.69 meticais (€1.23), up from the previous price of 83.57 meticais (€1.10), while diesel rose from 79.88 meticais (€1.06) to 116.25 meticais (€1.54).
Cooking gas rose from 86.05 meticais (€1.14) to 87.82 meticais (€1.15) per kilogram, and vehicle natural gas from 41.11 meticais (€0.54) to 52.73 meticais (€0.69) per litre.
PVJ/MYAL // ADB.
Lusa
