Government failure to pay $ 10 million hinders the return of Aden refineries to work
English - Wednesday 27 October 2021 الساعة 04:11 pm
Aden, NewsYemen, special:
The Deputy Director of Aden Refineries, Eng. Saeed Muhammad, revealed the reasons behind the refineries' cessation of work since 2015, indicating that there is government inaction in their return to work.
Eng. Saeed said, in an interview with the official “Aden” channel, that the refineries stopped due to two reasons: The first came after their supply of oil from Ma’rib, which it was refining through the Salif port in Hodeidah, with the intensification of the war in mid-2015, and the complete halt of oil production in Yemen.
The other reason for stopping the refineries is the complete collapse of their power station, stressing that the government did not support the refineries in order to build a new power station, which led to their stopping refining oil until today.
He pointed out that the government's failure prompted the management of the refineries to start the project of constructing a new power station with self-financing from its revenues represented in the wages of storing oil derivatives for importing traders, adding that these revenues are what enable it to pay the salaries of its employees, which are considered high, as well as to cover operating expenses, in the absence of Any support from the legitimate government, which he said is satisfied with promises.
The Deputy Director of Aden Refineries revealed that the completion rate in the electrical station project ranges between 60-65%, as the completion rate in the construction works of the station bases reached 85% with the arrival of a Chinese team recently to complete the rest, while the completion rate in the installation of parts of the station reached 40%.
He explained that the slow delay in the project is due to the weak financial funding covered by the refineries from their own revenues, pointing out that the refineries submitted a request to the government to pay the remaining amount of the project costs, which ranges between 7-10 million dollars, to speed up its completion.
He stressed that with the government paying this amount, it is possible to complete the remaining 40% of the electrical station within only 6 months, as the refineries currently need to transfer the remaining components of the station from the warehouses of the Chinese company executing the project and send the team to install it, which he said consists of 40 technicians.
The Deputy Director of Aden Refineries confirmed that the return of the refineries' activity in oil refining will reduce the need to import oil derivatives, which cost the country millions of hard currency.
The talk of the Deputy Director of Aden Refineries about government inaction, confirmed by the Minister of Civil Service and the leader of the Transitional Council, Abdel Nasser Al-Wali, last April in a seminar he had with the private sector in Aden about the existence of a deliberate obstruction to restart the refineries.
At the time, the governor spoke about what he called the “deep state” that is trying to prevent the government from performing its work, and cited the obstruction of the disbursement of $7 million allocated to restart the refineries, whose revenues he said before the war amounted to more than $50 million per month.
Economists confirm that the return of the Aden refineries to work is the most important solution to stop the collapse of the local currency, by reducing the demand for hard currency, of which the import of oil derivatives constitutes 60% of this demand, according to a statement by Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik made last March.
