The fuel tanker Mekongstrans with about 570,000 litres of fuel is expected to arrive in Vava’u on Saturday, 1 October, Paula Taufa, the Nuku’alofa Manager of Pacific Energy Ltd (PE), confirmed this afternoon, 29 September.

The Mekongstrans is currently in Nuku’alofa and it would be in Neiafu on Saturday, 1 October; not 5 October as was first reported.

Paula said that the 570,000 litres of fuel designated for Vava’u is made up of 230,000 litres of petrol and 340,000 of diesel.

He also confirmed that the Mekongstrans from now on would be the tanker to supply PE fuel to Tonga.

The last PE tanker to call into Vava’u was on 18 August, before PE ran into a difficulty securing a tanker to supply fuel to Tonga and other Pacific Islands. Since early September they have been experiencing fuel shortages.

Early this week, a local businessman, Tomifa Paea eased the fuel shortage problem by chartering in a ship from New Zealand with six tanktainers. Each tanktainer contains 23,000 litres of fuel, two of diesel and four of petrol.

Tomifa said his venture cost him about half a million pa'anga, “I did it to help the people of Vava’u.”

Tomifa is convinced that PE knew three months ago that they were going to have problem, supplying Vava’u and he believed that they should have ordered fuel in tanktainers to be delivered to Vava’u as he did. “To let the people of Vava’u suffer without feeling responsible is unacceptable and government should question them to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he said today.