Low quality fuel still sold in Nimroz, claim residents

ZARANJ (Pajhwok): Some residents and drivers in northwestern Nimroz province are complaining about low-quality fuel being sold in the province, while officials say nearly 125,000 litres of such fuel was returned to Iran in recent months.

Sher Ahmad Baloch, a driver and resident of Kang district, told Pajhwok Afghan News that the illegal entry of inferior quality fuel from Iran to Nimroz was a big issue and it affected the entire country.

He said: “Within three months, I changed the siphon of the car four times that cost 7,000 afghanis, the imported fuel is impure, it contains a lot of dust and polluted and causes damage to different parts of the vehicle.”

Abdullah, a resident of Zaranj, also complained about the presence of low-quality fuel in the province, saying such fuel was sold in barrels on the side of roads.

Abdullah, who owns a tractor, said his tractor developed faults due to the poor quality of oil and could not be used to plough land.

He asked the officials to stop the import and sale of low-quality oil.

Nimroz residents claim in addition to the Kang border, oil from Iran also is smuggled to the country via Silk Bridge in trucks.

He claimed: “Drivers hide oil in two-liter bottles under loads or inside the car and transfer it inside the country, as a result of which they get good profits from this work. If it is seen, they bribe border guards.”

He also demanded prevention of import and sale of low-quality oil in the province.

However, Matiullah Saber, financial director of the National Norm and Standard Department of Nimroz, told Pajhwok that in order to prevent the importation of low-quality oil, their department checks quality of all fuel and liquefied gas tankers introduced by the Directorate of Petroleum Materials every day.

sa/ma

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