Gaza City: Some Progress Despite Fuel Crisis

Gaza City: Some Progress Despite Fuel Crisis Threatening Municipal Services

At a press conference in Gaza City today the Mayor of Gaza City, Rafeek Mekki, announced that the fuel crisis afflicting the Gaza strip for over a month now threatens basic service provision to the citizens, most important being sewage treatment and garbage collection.

“At the current time the municipality is unable to obtain the necessary quantity of fuel, so we will have to stop pumping water from the wells to the houses of citizens,” he said during the radio programme Meeting with an Official organized by the Government Media Office.

“We have already stopped some sewage pumps which are located near the beach due to the lack of fuel. These pumps discharge waste water into the sea, and stopping them will negatively affect the health of citizens.”

Garbage Disposal
Mekki noted that the lack of fuel will also affect the health of the people of Gaza because the vehicles used to collect garbage run on fuel. He called upon all concerned people and organizations to immediately take measures to minimise the threat to citizens’ health.

He stated that the role of the municipality is basically providing services to the citizens, covering all walks of life, and affecting citizens either directly or indirectly. He noted that these services include water, sewage treatment, garbage disposal, street paving, infrastructure, and parks and gardens.

The Mayor pointed out that the siege imposed on Gaza for over four years now significantly affects the services provided by the municipality, because they require specialised equipment.

He added, “The municipal council began their task under the worst conditions imaginable. A lack of equipment and spare parts affected us badly, but we have prevailed through the willingness and determination of our people. We provided services despite all of these conditions, further, we have increased, developed and enhanced them.”

He provided the example of additional services in the water sector, and the arrangement to pump water despite the difficulties the municipality faces.

Projects
Mayor Mekki outlined million-dollar projects that are being implemented in the garbage-disposal sector through a two-phase strategy.

Regarding Rasheed Street, he said there are multi-million-dollar projects being implemented. Money is being spent on repairing and paving new streets, most importantly Rasheed Street, which is being funded wiith $3.5 million from the Palestinian Telecommunications Group.

Mekki advised that the Rasheed Street project will be completed by the end of May, and that there is another phase in the project, which will be funded by several donors.

New Projects
Mayor Mekki also advised that there are several projects to be put out for tender in the near future . He noted that there have been several projects already completed regarding streets within the city, such as Urabi Street and the western part of Althalathini Street.

He said that future projects to be implemented are being designed and prepared for launching, and expressed the hope that political conditions will help the fulfilment of the plan set out by the municipality to upgrade the services provided to its citizens. He pointed out that Palestinian citizens are experiencing improvement in many areas of their daily life, and called upon them to co-operate with the municipality in the various sectors and help care for public spaces, such as gardens, tress, and streets.

Mekki revealed that the Municipality plans to complete a computer project which will decrease inconvenience to citizens, as it will allow them to submit enquiries online, and predicted that the project will be finished in the coming 18 months. He noted that 60% of it has already been completed.

Fras Market
In response to a question by AlRai Online website about the Fras Market project, he said “Everyone can see that the miserable conditions that currently exist in the Fras Market and the surrounding area don’t suit our people.

There were previous attempts to renovate it but they halted because of political circumstances. We wanted to develop the area, and to build a market to suit our civilization and reflect the aspirations of our Palestinian people.

One of the investors visited the Municipality and discussed the issue. He showed willingness to implement the project and we started making preliminary suggestions, keeping in mind that all measures have been carried out in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations. A committee was formed to undertake these activities. We reached an understanding with the enterprise involved, and started taking practical steps.

There were understandings, and the money needed to implement the project had to be provided, but hidden hands started defaming the notion.

The municipality stepped back from presenting the project because of the pressure, even although it had presented the project in the open market to businessmen (none of whom showed readiness to undertake it because of the risks), and differences between the measures, the laws relating to the tendering process, and the laws of investment.”

Regarding the garbage disposal project, Mekki noted that the Municipality assigned one of the enterprises plus a private company to recycle garbage to produce compost to be used for several purposes. “The cost of the project is $900,000,” he concluded.

Translation from Arabic provided by Yousef Aljamal

ENDS

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