The Rwanda Bureau of Standards (RBS), an agency charged with controlling standards of specialized products in the country has started a major crackdown on substandard weights, beginning with the verification of the quality of fuel pumps.

The pumps which operate with the use of fuel dispensers became a concern for RBS after motorists complained that at times they pay more money for less fuel, at most pumping stations.

According to Gilbert Barigye an official from RBS the operation started in Kigali City Centre last week but will proceed countrywide.

"We have started with SP Rwanda and this week we are moving to Total Rwanda. All SP Rwanda petrol stations in Kigali have been verified,” he confirmed.

Barigye says that most of the fuel dispensers are not as inaccurate as they expected and most managers of these petrol stations are not even aware of the inaccuracies.

"So far we have come to realize that some filling stations were actually giving more fuel than the actual quantity that is paid for while only about two were giving less,” Barigye added.

In other provinces RBS staff is already offering calibration services to many industrialists and tea factories.

Barigye said that by the beginning of August, a crackdown on dodgy dealers who tamper with weighing scales will begin 

The director of the Metrology Unit, Patrice Ntiyamira, recently told The New Times that only approved weighing scales will be allowed to be used.

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