Gas crisis haunts people [Archives:2005/863/Business & Economy]

The gas crisis cited in the local market caused a lot of trouble to drivers, heads of house-hold and owners of restaurants, despite the fact that Yemen is a major exporter, with large reserves amounting up to 16 trillion metric tons.

Several of drivers whose cars run on gas experience a constant catastrophe for months due to the lack of gas in stations in the capital and the other governorates.

Numerous drivers expressed concern and described the crisis as a catastrophe upon them for a long period of time and no action has been taken by the government to put an end to the crisis.

Abdullah Nasser, a driver, said the crisis has been exacerbated and the government is supposed to put an end to it. When a driver finds gas, he becomes very happy but he loses happiness as the substance is consumed by his car.

A taxi driver Abdussalam Mohammad mentioned in a long row of people at al-Emtiaz station in Amran Street that most of the time the station finishes the substance before filling up all the waiting cars.

“Some times, I feel compelled to leave my car at the station until tomorrow to be filled up,” he added. “Some drivers resorted to have their cars petrol-operated and were surprised to find them consume more than they did before being changed to run on gas .”

A third driver noted that if the government made a small price subsidy and made gas available at the local market, this would help to avoid the crisis.

For his part, Nief Saleh mentioned that he sometimes resorts to leaving one of his children at the station to wait to fill up their car.

Heads of house-hold and owners of restaurants who use gas for cooking attribute the gas crisis to the unwise distribution of the commodity and demand the government to put end to the crisis.

Taxi and bus drivers stated they feel themselves compelled to give bribery to workers at gas stations in order to have their cars filled up.
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