Al-Houthi suffocates the residents of Hodeidah with electricity and water
English - Saturday 29 April 2023 الساعة 09:47 am
Hodeidah, NewsYemen, exclusive:
The suffering of the residents of Hodeidah, which is under the control of the Houthi militia - the Iranian arm in Yemen - has doubled in light of the water outages and the high price of electricity tariffs with the advent of summer and the high temperature, which has turned their lives into an unbearable hell.
Like every year, the coastal city of Al-Hodeidah suffers silently, along with the rest of its sprawling districts, from heat and poverty, without electricity or water under an authority that knows nothing but imposing levies and suffocating the population with the fire of woe and deprivation.
Water crisis
Local sources and people in the city of Hodeidah confirmed to (Newsyemen) editor that the water service continued to be cut off from most of the neighborhoods and lanes of the city of Hodeidah from the beginning of last Ramadan until the fourth day of Eid al-Fitr, causing real suffering to the population in light of their inability to pay the value of water watts, whose prices have significantly increased.
The leader of the militia, appointed Director General of the Water Corporation in the governorate, Abdulrahman Ishaq, justified, according to a statement reported by Houthi media, the stopping of water pumping to the neighborhoods and homes of subscribers in the directorates of the governorate center due to the interruption and interruption of subsidies and the depletion of the amount of diesel stored for three months, and due to the scarcity of revenues and non-payment of debts on the part the citizens and because of the difficult circumstances that the institution is going through as a result of the aggression and the blockade - he said.
The statement of the Houthi leader, Abdulrahman Ishaq, raised many questions about the fate of the huge revenues that Iran's arm reaps from the branch of the Water Corporation, customs, Hodeidah port, taxes, electricity, and all revenue institutions in the province.
After the militia, as a de facto authority, abdicated its responsibilities regarding the aggravation of the water crisis in Hodeidah, Hajj Abdul-Jalil Thabet took the initiative to provide the Water Corporation in Hodeidah Governorate with 50,000 liters of diesel to alleviate the suffering of the residents of the city of Hodeidah as a result of the water shortage.
Informed sources in the Water Corporation branch in Hodeidah confirmed to (NewsYemen) that the wrong policy and study pursued by the Water Corporation administration nearly two years ago by raising the price per cubic meter of water to approximately 200% under the pretext of what is called (compensation for water losses) had negative repercussions for the corporation and the citizen because of the citizen’s inability to pay the value of water, in addition to the harsh living requirements that burdened him due to the militia’s confiscation of salaries and the poor living conditions faced by most of the population.
It pointed out that the consumer who used to pay the monthly value of water at 1,500 riyals is now required to pay more than 6,000 thousand riyals in light of his inability to save money as a result of the interruption of salaries and the lack of sources of income as a result of the war that Iran’s arm ignited eight years ago.
The sources called for correcting the misconceptions of the disastrous policy (increasing the value to compensate for the loss) that does not take into account the special circumstances of citizens, most of whom are poor and destitute.
Finding radical solutions in line with the deteriorating living conditions of the population.
The sources pointed out that the Houthi directives to supply electricity to the Water Corporation for a period of two months at the expense of the Hodeidah Needs Support Fund were not implemented and went unheeded.
Electricity crisis
The majority of citizens in Al-Hodeidah governorate, with the onset of the summer, suffer hell of heat and live in complete darkness due to the power outages for long hours, their inability to participate in commercial electrical stations belonging to Houthi leaders, most of which are Hashemite, and the looting of billions of riyals by Iran’s arm from ships entering the ports as fees imposed under the name Supporting the Hodeidah Electricity Subsidy Fund, which it established in 2017.
Despite the suffering that Al-Hodeidah and its people are experiencing due to the high prices of electricity and its interruption from the homes of residents and medical facilities, while the government current is connected to the homes of leaders and supervisors of Iran’s arm for free, the militia and through the Electricity Corporation under its control excluded it from its decision to set the price of one kilowatt of electric current from stations Government obstetrics by 270 riyals in all areas of its control (Al-Hodeidah and Al-Jawf governorates), in a move that observers considered as revenge for the population.
According to a document issued by the Electricity Corporation, which is under the control of the Houthi government in Sana'a (which is not recognized) on April 12, the price per kilowatt was set by the regions of the General Electricity Corporation and its generating stations at 270 riyals, starting from April 16, and the governorates of Hodeidah and Al-Jawf were excluded from this decision.
Many residents of the city of Hodeidah complained to the editor of (NewsYemen) that tariff rates continued to rise with the advent of summer, the rise in heat, and the continuation of the frenzied campaigns led by the Houthi militia leadership in the Electricity Corporation branch against homeowners because of their inability to pay the sums of money they owe.
They called for activating the decision of the House of Representatives in Sana’a, which set the price of a kilowatt of government electricity at no more than 150 riyals and commercial at no more than 250 riyals, given that Hodeidah has its own status, as the electricity price at the height of the war was 100 riyals for the price of a kilowatt before the appointment of the militia leader Hashim Al-Shami, director of the Foundation's branch, which seeks to double revenues at the expense of people's suffering - as they say.
They concluded their conversations, saying that their hopes for improved services, especially electricity after the opening of the port of Hodeidah and the continued arrival of ships, have diminished with the escalation of their suffering and the absence of any change that touches their bitter reality.
