The Chinese company is concerned, and the salaries are unknown ... the presidential struggle and the government threatens to stop the activities of the Aden Refinery completely
English - Wednesday 31 March 2021 الساعة 04:49 pm
Aden, NewsYemen, Exclusive:
The conflict between the Yemeni presidency residing in Riyadh and the newly formed Equity Government to control the Aden Refineries Company threatens to permanently stop the company's activity, as well as obstruct the development and modernization projects implemented by a specialized Chinese company that stopped more than once due to the war of the Houthi militia, Iran's arm in Yemen, over The city at the beginning of 2015 and the bloody events that the city witnessed during the past years.
The Aden Refineries Company, which was established in 1954, is the most important tributary of the national economy, but its activity declined during the post-war years due to the government's negligence and its constant refusal to compensate it for the losses it incurred during the defense war and liberating the capital Aden from Iranian militias.
The office of the presidency, led by the Brotherhood, Abdullah Al-Alimi, and his deputy for economic affairs, Ahmed Al-Eisi, extended their hegemony and control over the refinery by first appointing officials loyal to them, and then hindering any efforts trying to promote the refinery's activity and restore its previous position and role in supplying the local market with oil derivatives.
Southern observers believe that the Yemeni presidency has turned the refinery into stores for oil derivatives belonging to the businessman and the deputy director of the Presidential Office for Economic Affairs Ahmed Al-Eisi, who monopolized supplying the local market and power stations with oil derivatives for years even after the decision to liberalize the oil derivatives market.
The Prime Minister, Dr. Maeen Abdul-Malik, as well as the Southern Transitional Council during the Autonomous Administration period sought to liberate the refinery from Al-Eisi’s control through measures aimed at restoring the refinery to its actual activity before the 2015 war, but all these measures collided with the intransigence of the Presidency Office and its refusal to respond to it. Stopping the payment of the salaries of the refinery workers and employees for political reasons, the most prominent of which is dealing with the Autonomous Administration.
A few days ago, the Minister of Oil and Minerals, Abdul Salam Baaboud, issued a decision assigning his deputy, Dr. Saeed Al-Shamasy, to manage the refinery in place of the executive director, Muhammad Al-Bakri, who was granted an open license, to start a new chapter in the struggle for control of the refinery.
A source at the refinery told (NewsYemen) that the oil minister's decision, despite its legality, will cause the refinery’s activity to stop, as well as to stop the development and modernization projects implemented by a Chinese technical team that arrived in Aden a few days ago, indicating that this decision clashed as usual with a strange position of the Yemeni presidency. Which refused to suspend its work or to issue a presidential decree appointing a replacement for Bakri.
And he continued, "But the presidency, despite not commenting on the decision, has instructed the" central and national "government banks not to deal with the signature of Al-Shammasi and to continue working with Al-Bakri's signature until a republican decision is issued to appoint a replacement for him.
The source, who maintains its identity, added, "This struggle to control the refinery will negatively affect the modernization and development projects that have been resumed recently after persuading the Chinese specialized company to send a technical team," explaining that the refinery management received a letter from the Chinese company in which the latter expressed its concern about the situation. "The current situation and the multiplicity of leaders responsible for the refinery, and that they may be forced to withdraw the team that sent them if this situation continues."
The source pointed out that the catastrophic situation of this conflict did not stop at this point, but its effects reached the salaries of workers and employees, which are threatened with delay in the event of the continuation of the current situation left by the conflict of the presidency and the government, stressing that failure to resolve matters quickly and away from any political calculations would stop The refinery's already decadent activity once and for all.
