Daily News E-dition

Crisis-hit Lebanon hammered by fuel shortage

IN LEBANON this month, many pupils aren’t going to school, people aren’t working at their offices and the anti-government street protests have reignited. But this time it’s not because of the coronavirus, it’s about fuel – or rather the almost total lack of it.

In a country that has become no stranger to crisis, the fuel shortage is the latest in a series of catastrophes, ranging from an economic collapse that has shrunk the currency to a 10th of its value, a pandemic that has shut the doors of many businesses and a blast last year that killed over 200 people and devastated much of central Beirut.

Lines now stretch for kilometres at fuel stations as people wait for hours to buy the small amounts of rationed fuel they are allowed at a time.

Subsidies have kept fuel affordable in Lebanon, but the cash-strapped government can’t pay for them any more and needs to save its dwindling financial reserves as it runs out of the dollars it needs to import fuel. Scarce fuel is also being smuggled into neighbouring Syria, which is also in desperate need.

The result is long lines and hassle as people search for the few remaining fuel stations with active pumps.

Lebanon is heavily reliant on cars and motorcycles – there is no metro system, few public buses, and no bicycle lanes. Everything is delivered to homes – PCR tests, water jugs, even mixed cocktails.

And now, in the south where the market shortage is more acute, the lines longer, and the stations offering less, you can have someone deliver a jug of fuel to your house – at three times the price.

Many petrol stations have decided to close. Many accused the owners of holding on to fuel to sell it later at a higher price, after the subsidy is reduced. The association of fuel station owners has denied such claims and blame the central bank for not supplying dollars to cover the country’s fuel import needs.

Beirut was long a city awash with luxury: – the capital boasts extravagant beach clubs, a yacht club, some of the world’s most renowned fashion designers, and overpriced glitzy restaurants.

Now, highways are clogged with sometimes three columns of cars lined up at the stations outside of town waiting to fill up. Some people show up with plastic bottles and argue for more than the allotted amount of fuel per person. Most are turned away.

Every excursion now involves a complex web of planning for how to get fuel, while scouting for open stations with a wait of under one hour. Some people are paying their “natour” (similar to a building doorman) to stand in line on their behalf.

Driving outside of Beirut used to be city dwellers’ favourite pastime: now residents who can afford to, avoid getting in their car, saving their precious fuel in case of an emergency.

Beirut pedestrians have always complained about the relentless cabs that trail them on the streets, asking if they need a ride. Now few cabs can be seen on the roads.

Uber wait times, which in central Beirut used to be almost non-existent, now stretch 20-30 minutes.

.ast week, men got into a fistfight over whose turn it was at a fuel station before someone shot a gun in the air, dispersing the angry crowd.

Another man reportedly also fired his gun outside a station in the financially-hit northern city of Tripoli after employees there turned him away because there was no fuel.

DAILY NEWS WORLD

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2021-06-15T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-15T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://dailynews.pressreader.com/article/281736977402246

African News Agency