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Good Diesel, Bad
Diesel
I remember the words of a
diplomat who participated in a focus group discussion organized by our company:
“ The solution lies in the implementation of existing laws,” he said.
Laws are made to be implemented and improved in order to serve society and the
individual. In Lebanon and the region, laws are not adhered to. A good example
of this is the issue of diesel vehicles in Lebanon.
Law no. 6810 dated June 10, 1961 prohibits the use of all diesel vehicles. This
law, however, was amended by a legislative decree on June 27, 1977 allowing only
public sector vehicles to operate on diesel.
On August 17, 1994, another amendment to the law was made allowing minibuses and
trucks to operate on diesel. The diesel taxis which were prohibited on June 15,
2002 have been operating illegally throughout. As for the minibuses, the law has
been amended again and they have ceased operating since July 15, 2002.
The interesting side of our story is not that the government allows itself to
pollute the air (via its own trucks and buses) while prohibiting others, but
that the amendment of the law legalizing diesel minibuses in 1994 stated that
“it is demonstrated that diesel vehicles are less polluting than fuel… and that
this law will allow the private sector to participate in solving the problems
and provide less costly means of transport to the citizens.” At the same time,
Law no. 341 dated August 9, 2001 prohibiting those same minibuses now states
that this amendment is supposed to “decrease pollution”.
The ‘citizen’ now asks about ‘the scientists’ in the government who discovered
that diesel is “less” of a pollutant and have rediscovered that it is “more” of
a pollutant. Why does the government continue to import diesel with a high
sulfur content, and why are buses of 15 passengers or more that belong to
private companies (with ties to politicians) not subject to this law and
continue to operate? Why should citizens be responsible for picking up the bill
compensating minibus owners after the government’s faulty methods and finally,
who can really tell what the exact number of genuine minibus owners who ought to
be compensated is?
A slight implementation of the law has considerably improved our lives with less
pollution and less traffic. A more transparent law and its full enforcement is
required.
Jawad Adra
Managing Partner
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Current Statistics
Credit Cards
• The number of credit and charge cards that were issued by Lebanese
banks in 2001 equalled 408,000 while withdrawals and payments on them reached
$935 million. 78% of these were cash withdrawals.
New Cars
• 1,518 new cars were sold in Lebanon during the months of February, March and
April 2002, compared with 2,228 cars sold over the same period last year.
Social Security
• Assets of the National Social Security Fund in March 2002 reached LL 2,660
billion ($1.7 billion). 93% of these funds are invested in Lebanese government
treasury bills, denominated in Lebanese pounds.
• 434,000 people are registered in the National Social Security Fund, with
beneficiaries totalling approximately 1.2 million people.
Judiciary
• Six of the highest judges in Lebanon reached the legal retirement age for
judges (68 years) on July 1, 2002.
Electricity
• Loans given to Electricite Du Liban by the Lebanese government in May 2002 for
overdue payments and for oil products amounted to LL 525 billion ($348 million).
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