Palestinian Energy Authority revealed on Thursday evening that the Finance Ministryin the West Bank returned to impose taxes on Gaza power plant’s fuel after thefirst batch of Qatari and Turkish fuel grants had finished. It warned of possibleaggravation of the power crisis in the besieged enclave.
In a statement the Energy Authority pointed out that it rushed to buyfuel in order to guarantee the continuation of operating the power generation station without anyobstacles until the arrival of the second batch.
The statement highlighted that the petrol authority in Ramallah informed EnergyAuthority in Gaza that the fuel price has jumped to 5.4 shekels per liter which is threetimes the original price.
It stressed that the price is too expensive and runs contrary to theunderstandings sponsored by Palestinian factions as well as the national committee ofpower crisis for the exemption of taxes.
The statement warned that as a result the power station might be shut downand the strangling crisis would return back again to the Gaza Strip during next fewdays.
The Authority appealed to all competent and concerned bodies to take urgent action in order to avoid a potential new crisis and called forcancelling all taxes on fuel prices. It also asked donor countries to accelerate the entry of the secondbatch of fuel grants.
