Planning corruption and the fuel disaster.. The electricity file deepens the crisis of the legitimate government
English - Wednesday 07 June 2023 الساعة 09:05 am
Al-Mokha, NewsYemen, exclusive:
The statements issued by the Presidential Council and the government during the intensive meetings with ambassadors and Western officials during the past days revealed the deepening of the financial crisis that the government is facing resulting from the cessation of crude oil exports due to the attacks of the Houthi militia on export ports.
According to official data, oil revenues represent more than two-thirds of revenues in the government's general budget, which threatens its ability to fulfill its necessary obligations towards citizens in the liberated areas, the most important of which are salaries and the services sector.
At the forefront of these services is the electricity file, which has become the government's greatest concern. According to the expression of the governor of the capital, Aden, Ahmed Lamlas, during his meeting, on Monday, in the palace of Ma’ashiq Stephen Fagin, the ambassador of the United States of America, where the governor indicated that fuel for power plants costs the state in the liberated areas about $60 million per month.
In view of the financial crisis the government is currently facing, this figure constitutes a huge amount in light of the non-renewal of the fuel grant by Saudi Arabia, which used to save the government about 75% of the fuel cost compared to the international price. Lamlas expressed his hope that the government's moves would result in urging the brothers in Saudi Arabia to resume the fuel grant.
Lamlas indicated, in his speech to the US ambassador, that there are efforts being made to move towards clean, renewable and sustainable energy and to dispense with expensive diesel stations, through the establishment of a solar power plant with a capacity of 120 megawatts provided by the brothers in the UAE. This was recommended by a new economic study on the energy file in Yemen.
The study, entitled "Expanding Solar Energy Investments in Yemen," referred to the prices recorded by Saudi Arabia and the UAE in the cost of producing electricity through solar "photovoltaic" energy, at 1.04 cents per kilowatt-hour and 1.35 cents per kilowatt-hour. / hour, respectively, compared to what the legitimate government pays to produce electricity with diesel fuel, which costs more than 25 cents per kilowatt-hour.
The liberated areas, especially the capital, Aden, suffer every year from a severe electricity crisis in the summer due to the high volume of demand, which this year in Aden exceeded 650 megawatts, compared to the limited generation, which ranges between 200-300 megawatts in the event of fuel availability.
The most important reason for this crisis, according to the Minister of Electricity, Manea Bin Yameen, is the irregular arrival of fuel to the generation stations on a continuous basis, in addition to exceeding most of the power generation stations for the supposed operational hours at a time when they are not subject to regular periodic maintenance, in addition to a number of other factors, including the poor quality of the distribution networks.
Minister Bin Yammine said during his meeting, Monday, with the Minister of Civil Service to discuss the situation of employees and cadres, that the electricity crisis is due in the end to the suspension of the state's investment program more than ten years ago, not to mention the decline in state resources, especially in the last six months.
Apart from what the Minister of Electricity says, the electricity crisis in Aden reveals the extent of corruption and tampering with which successive legitimate governments have dealt since the city's liberation 8 years ago, by resorting to "purchased energy" through diesel generators, which is the most expensive fuel, instead of moving towards renewable energy. Such as solar / wind energy, or the establishment of electric stations that operate on less expensive fuel such as gas, while neglecting the maintenance of government stations operating on diesel fuel or crude oil, which is less expensive compared to diesel.
Corruption and tampering in the project to rehabilitate the Al-Haswa steam station operating on diesel fuel in 2017 prevented the station from restoring its full power of 130 megawatts, and keeping it at its current generation, which does not exceed 45 megawatts, while the 60-megawatt Qatari gas station remained inactive for years without repairing it. Until Qatar recently intervened and took over its repair, as the station's turbines were shipped last week to the Netherlands for repair at the expense of the Qatar Fund for Development.
The President station or the "Petromasila" station remains the most prominent witness to this tampering. The station operating on crude oil / gas fuel for two years is still partially operating (90 megawatts) out of 264 megawatts, due to the failure to complete the energy drainage project, which prevents its full power from entering the The service is due to the government's delay in paying the costs.
