Politburo member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) Talal Abu Zarifa said on Wednesday that there is a national demand on the Palestinian Authority (PA) government to abolish the blue tax imposed on the fuel sold to the Gaza Strip.
Abu Zarifa said in an interview with the PIC that the PA government still refuses to cancel the blue tax imposed on the fuel sold to operate the Gaza power plant despite the presence of a prior agreement between the Palestinian factions and the government regarding the issue.
The Gaza Energy Authority affirmed recently that the fuel supplies provided by the Qatari grant which included 12 million dollars over the past three months starting from 16th January 2017 and the Turkish grant which included 8000 tons of fuel will completely end by 13th April 2017.
The Energy Authority called on all concerned and influential parties to convince the PA government in Ramallah to approve fuel supplies to the Gaza power plant without taxes just like the case with the Qatari and Turkish grants.
The Gaza Strip suffers from an electricity crisis that has been rolling for more than ten years. There is a growing gap between the provided and needed amount of electricity in the Gaza Strip. At peak times Gaza needs about 600 MWs while the maximum amount that could be provided is 270 MWs.
