Google Cloud Speech-to-Text API (Chirp) + Gemini 2.5 Flash Non-Thinking. Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:02wastewater treatment plants, which are unfortunately all wastewater treatment plants
00:00:10are the same as in other countries. But if you now knows their suffering. This or most of the wastewater in Syria goes into rivers, lakes, and seas. Therefore, it is a priority
00:00:14for us to build plants that are, first, a water resource for agriculture, and second,
00:00:18a way to reduce pollution to our water bodies and our
00:00:21flowing waters. We have put this in the plan, and we have put it in the
00:00:24investment plan. God willing, it will be approved by the Ministry of
00:00:27the interventions, if you don't mind. Finance and Parliament after it is presented to them,
00:00:31so that they agree to
00:00:32and I thank him for the five stations in each governorate. If we implement a plan in this way, God willing,
00:00:36within a few years, we will have finished the issue of sewage.
00:00:41the Minister answers. I ask the Currently, we are working on the Adra station. God willing, we will re-qualify it
00:00:43again. We have the Aleppo station, its cost is 400 million dollars. The
00:00:47Al-Ramousa station
00:00:49were working. We rehabilitated one, and the sixth entered is also one of our priorities, and we are currently working on marketing it to the World Bank
00:00:53and some organizations, or we might get a loan for it because the Ministry of Finance
00:00:57said that they are unable to allocate this amount for the
00:01:01water station. The most prominent
00:01:03at least eight governorates challenges we have are in the sector of waste and very large losses.
00:01:06That is, we always see water being wasted in our homes. This requires
00:01:10a lot of effort and costs, and
00:01:13filtering this water, and chlorination, and adding
00:01:15underground water starts flowing in chlorine and pumping it into the water, and networks and maintenance. And people sometimes
00:01:20people of Raqqa in this use it for irrigation or use it for washing or for washing cars, vehicles,
00:01:24and roads. So, this also requires awareness and rationalization in
00:01:28consumption. Of course, the first and last reason for this
00:01:31is that the price of one cubic meter of
00:01:33agricultural or construction or so on, on water is currently 7 old Syrian pounds, meaning
00:01:360.007 Syrian pounds per cubic meter of
00:01:39water within the water tariff. So people use it
00:01:43and waste it. And والله, the rooftops, I saw them and pictures reached me
00:01:46of the rooftops when the water comes
00:01:50we can apply for this and the dynamo is working and there are no floats. All the water is going to
00:01:53but there have been encroachments on the waste. Unfortunately, it requires
00:01:56awareness. It requires awareness and rational management. We ask God that we have done campaigns
00:01:59and rationalization and so on. We also need
00:02:02There will be fraud, there will be fraud, meaning this your help and assistance in this matter. Water resources
00:02:06will mix the first material with and operational sustainability. We mentioned that we have repaired
00:02:096000 pumps and 1462
00:02:13generating sets and 308 new wells drilled
00:02:17There is no shortage of to secure drinking water, and
00:02:19water, and thank God, water is abundant 1051 wells rehabilitated, and 110 elevated tanks rehabilitated and built,
00:02:23and 206 pumping and purification stations rehabilitated, and 416
00:02:27solar energy systems as part of the other transformation and the transformation to
00:02:30clean energy and securing low production costs
00:02:34for water. We installed 406 solar energy stations
00:02:37for water pumping stations. We also worked on rehabilitating
00:02:40networks, 1000 rehabilitation and replacement, 11000
00:02:44this understands that the repairs, 26
00:02:46that we estimated, based on valves, 92 lines exempt from rationing, and 136
00:02:49conversion centers for water stations. Water projects
00:02:52returned to service. Service was restored to approximately 2.3
00:02:56million people after service was interrupted for them. The
00:03:00Wadi Marwan project and the Al-Laj project, the Allouk station project in Hasakah,
00:03:03and the Maarat al-Nu'man project in Sednaya. These were all stations out of service
00:03:07for 12 and 13 years. We restored them to service
00:03:10Raqqa's turn was taken by no one, and no colleague from and secured water for more than 2.3 million people.
00:03:13Smart meters. I mentioned them a while ago that we are in the process of introducing them,
00:03:16and the same for electricity. We signed
00:03:18Water desalination, even with a contract or sent a contract to a Chinese company, and we sent a delegation to
00:03:22China twice. The study of rehabilitating the company
00:03:25technically and everything is ready, and God willing, the contract is in the final touches for
00:03:29signing, God willing. There are about
00:03:326 million
00:03:35of a bacteriological analysis laboratory in smart water and electricity meters for each category. Development of sewage
00:03:39services. We have 16 stations that we have rebuilt, and more than
00:03:44our institutions are still on 2686 kilometers of sewage lines, kilometers of sewage lines that we have replaced
00:03:49the priorities for the next phase. It will be about affiliated with the Water Resources Directorate. This and put into service. We have partnerships in Ain al-Zarqa in Idlib. We have the rehabilitation
00:03:52of the water system, covering 80% of Idlib governorate.
00:03:56This has been agreed upon with some
00:03:59partners, the World Bank and other
00:04:01occurred as a result of this humanitarian organizations. We have the upper reaches of the Orontes River, which we will also
00:04:04implement, and also
00:04:06monitoring work that we are carrying out on the Adra water treatment plant. Now, it is within the plan and has entered
00:04:10And may God reward you for listening, and excuse us for into force. Approximately
00:04:12desire from 2.2 million people will benefit from it.
00:04:14The goals are sustainability in water sources, network development,
00:04:19reached a point where it could not sewage development, improving operational efficiency,
00:04:192027 plan. Also, among the and digital transformation through smart meters
00:04:24needed to hear this and leading that received qualitative increases, and I presented this the building of a leading system
00:04:26for the water sector and managing dams and water resources. With water
00:04:30resources and dams, we have
00:04:31whoever registers for the 164 dams with a capacity of approximately
00:04:34two things: do not 19.033
00:04:36billion cubic meters. The largest of them are, of course, the Euphrates Dam and the
00:04:40Tishrin Dam. We also have other dams
00:04:44that are dams that
00:04:47provide water for reclamation projects and irrigation projects.
00:04:51We have approximately 18 km of total irrigation networks
00:04:54of all types, and also 285 pumping
00:04:58stations. As for the Euphrates,
00:05:02Tishrin, and Qdeiran, these are three dams on the Euphrates
00:05:04answers will be given, and we will read them in River, and we are currently studying a fourth dam. It is
00:05:07currently under study. The Halabiyeh and Zalabiyeh project will be offered for investment, God willing.
00:05:10The benefit is that it is not so much a collection dam
00:05:14as it is a regulatory dam that generates approximately 75 megawatts of electricity from three units in it,
00:05:18like the Qdeiran Dam, in addition to its use for
00:05:22irrigation and land reclamation. The most prominent
00:05:26challenges for water resources are also the same. The aging of equipment
00:05:29and technical staff. For example, at the Euphrates Dam, we have eight units, four of which are out of service, as
00:05:33one of the honorable members mentioned. Two of them have their technical,
00:05:37electrical, and mechanical studies ready, God willing.
00:05:40We might put them
00:05:43in the Euphrates Dam Authority's investment plan for 2026.
00:05:47If approved, God willing, and 2027 if approved, God willing,
00:05:50for the 2027 budget, we will enter two units and begin rehabilitating
00:05:54two units. Tishrin Dam has
00:05:56five units. We rehabilitated one. Six units were there, one was out of service, five
00:06:02service. There are some technical problems, but in general,
00:06:05the dam's condition needs these dams because
00:06:09we haven't been involved in the dam and its management for a long time. Up until now, the past period was
00:06:13evaluation and water regulation and improving the quality
00:06:16and output of the stations because we had a good water inflow during the past period from Turkey
00:06:20because it was 200 cubic meters per second, as the professor mentioned, approximately 220 cubic meters
00:06:23per second. Now it's about 1000 cubic meters per second.
00:06:27Of course, the Euphrates River bed
00:06:30is important. It is designed for 3000 cubic meters per
00:06:33second. We release water. So last time, when the
00:06:36release happened, first of all, thank God, there was no crisis, and there were no losses. What happened
00:06:40is that there are many encroachments, whether
00:06:46the river. So today, if we release 2000 cubic meters per second,
00:06:49there will be problems, even though by law, in water legislation,
00:06:533000 cubic meters is the river's sanctuary. So people have
00:06:55encroached.
00:07:00No, God willing, this is designed and it used to flow like this one day,
00:07:05riverbed. We are saying today that we need to return to 3000
00:07:09cubic meters per second, meaning the riverbed and the protective
00:07:12zone around it, so that people don't fall into danger, because today
00:07:15any flows, last time we were
00:07:19filling the dams because the dams were severely deficient
00:07:23until some stations went out of service due to the receding dam
00:07:26waters. After we refilled the dams, Turkey
00:07:30gave us a warning the day before that we had a problem with increasing
00:07:34water, and we needed to increase
00:07:37water releases. So we started increasing water releases, and there was
00:07:40a problem with the Al-Rashid Bridge. They said if you immediately
00:07:44increase the amount to stay within the safe range,
00:07:48the bridge will collapse, and we are in its last moments. There are technical issues
00:07:51that also contributed to the problem of the earthen bridges. The professor who knows
00:07:56volume of water behind the earthen dam
00:08:00is significantly higher than the volume of water after the
00:08:03earthen dam. So you find that these earthen dams, these earthen bridges,
00:08:07once we are done with them, the Al-Siyahiya Bridge, Al-Rashid Bridge, and Al-Mayadin Bridge,
00:08:11once these bridges are back in service, God willing, these
00:08:14earthen dams will significantly reduce the problem of rising river levels.
00:08:18Any maintenance and rehabilitation of water facilities,
00:08:211974 km of cleaning and maintenance of irrigation canals, meaning approximately
00:08:252000 km. We were asked this question
00:08:28a while ago. Thank God, we started it at the beginning
00:08:32of the year and the season. These maintenances, all the
00:08:36bulldozers and engineering equipment and excavators are working around
00:08:39the clock, because the system has not been cleaning the canals for 15 years.
00:08:43So we started cleaning the canals until, thank God, we were able to cope with
00:08:47the heavy rainfall that occurred in some seasons and avoid these
00:08:50floods. We had a problem in Al-Sayha, in the area between
00:08:53Aleppo and Idlib. It was a problem. It was
00:08:57a dam that was not
00:09:00Al-Sayha Dam is a dam that was built by the locals, but we
00:09:04took responsibility for it and supported it during the past period. And now there is an emergency room with
00:09:07the Ministry of Emergency in order to avoid
00:09:10a recurrence of the damage that
00:09:13dam filling up. Monitoring and surveillance of the
00:09:19water points and samples for drinking water.
00:09:22Water projects under implementation: completion of four dams, and we have
00:09:26two other dams or three dams
00:09:28that we included in the
00:09:32strategic goals are the rehabilitation of irrigation facilities and the development of integrated monitoring
00:09:35and operation of dams, and enhancing water use efficiency and completing
00:09:38water projects and raising readiness. We have the
00:09:42Halabiyeh and Zalabieh dam project, which I just mentioned. It irrigates 3,000 hectares,
00:09:4578 megawatts, and
00:09:47about 87 families will benefit from it.
00:09:51That is, 6,000 people.
00:09:53We have the Tigris irrigation project, which one of the
00:09:57professors also mentioned. We have a share of the Tigris
00:10:00water according to
00:10:03international laws. This share is not being utilized. We have
00:10:07a project to bring the Tigris River to the Khabour. This
00:10:11is approximately 215 thousand hectares. I saw a number here in the
00:10:14presentation. This is practically approximately
00:10:18215,000 hectares. 150 thousand new hectares
00:10:21and 65 hectares which
00:10:24are the old ones that used to be irrigated by the Khabour, which the professor mentioned have dried up
00:10:28significantly and people have left the area, and no one
00:10:32project costs 2 billion dollars. This project is one of the most important
00:10:35strategic projects for securing
00:10:39or a vital agricultural project for employing labor and developing
00:10:42agriculture in the region and bringing life back to that region, which is
00:10:46under the name of the Green Renaissance in Al-Hasakah region and even
00:10:49Deir Ezzor. The other project is drawing water from the Euphrates River,
00:10:53which is currently, as the professor mentioned,
00:10:57note, that it is 571 or 572
00:11:01million dollars approximately, the cost of the project. This is an accurate number,
00:11:04but at 3 cubic meters per second, we are not talking about
00:11:08the entire project. If we want to convert it to agriculture, we will need
00:11:1212 cubic meters per second. No, its cost will be about 1.5 billion
00:11:16dollars. The project is drawing water from the river, and there is a
00:11:20complete study with its details, God willing, and we have launched it on our platforms to receive
00:11:23offers. The project will start from the Euphrates Lake, and this
00:11:26matter is not from the share of our people in Deir Ezzor or Raqqa. It is
00:11:303 cubic meters per second compared to 100 meters that we were talking about a while ago.
00:11:34The releases are 3 meters out of 100 cubic meters per second that are
00:11:37coming. The 3 cubic meters per second project is industrial more than agricultural.
00:11:41It is a drinking water project for Tadmur, and then it will go to
00:11:44a branch that returns to Deir Ezzor. We might benefit from it in terms of
00:11:47livestock and raising cattle, sheep, and so on,
00:11:51in addition to another branch that goes from Tadmur
00:11:55to Hasieh, which is a project for the industrial city and for phosphate factories
00:11:58and for the refinery that we are building. So it is an industrial
00:12:02project to support mining industries and petrochemical
00:12:05industries, in addition to some drinking water.
00:12:08We launched the project, and now there are inquiries from interested
00:12:11companies about how
00:12:15project and implement it. So these three strategic projects that we have are part of
00:12:19our plan to implement them during the
00:12:22upcoming period, God willing. It is to secure water for phosphate
00:12:25mines and industrial cities. We have a project called the National Carrier Project,
00:12:29which is the project that the professor also mentioned from the
00:12:32coastal region. We have fresh water that goes into
00:12:36the sea, whether from the Sinn River or submarine water or
00:12:39groundwater wells or other sources.
00:12:44in the coastal region. So we want to capture this fresh water, collect it,
00:12:48and pump it to Damascus to the Al-Qutaifah
00:12:51reservoirs. From there, it will return by pipeline to Damascus.
00:12:57And these areas are the ones that will benefit, and rural Damascus, of course,
00:13:00from this project. The cost of the project is, so far,
00:13:04we have signed a contract for the study of the project. The project was not studied previously.
00:13:07The initial cost
00:13:11the quantities of water that we want to pump, is approximately
00:13:149 billion dollars for the project
00:13:17in general. But it is a very strategic project. First, it relieves
00:13:21Ain al-Fijah. Ain al-Fijah's flow dropped from 40 cubic meters per second at one point to 1.5
00:13:25cubic meters per second only. Today, Ain al-Fijah is supplying, so we have
00:13:28a water risk in the south. Therefore, we proposed this project.
00:13:32The professor mentioned that it will involve water desalination. There will be a part of it for desalination, but our goal is
00:13:36collection because desalination is expensive. Desalination costs half a
00:13:40dollar per cubic meter. It's not an easy number.
00:13:43modern technologies like RO technology, costs half a
00:13:47dollar per cubic meter at best. After installing solar energy systems
00:13:50and renewable energy, etc., they reached 37
00:13:54cents. I saw that in one of the projects, and it's very
00:13:57expensive, not including pumping, not including pumping and transport,
00:14:01half a dollar per cubic meter of water, right? So this will be burdensome, but
00:14:05collection will be easier. There are pumping and operating costs that will hopefully
00:14:09be manageable. This is regarding
00:14:14recovery to sustainability, increasing production, improving the reliability
00:14:17of supplies, completing infrastructure rehabilitation, transforming investments and agreements into actual
00:14:21projects, and we have actually started many projects. Enhancing good governance,
00:14:25developing cadres and capabilities. This is sustainable energy
00:14:29for economic recovery and national development.
00:14:35the length, but the files are complex and important for every Syrian
00:14:38citizen. Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr.
00:14:41Minister, please take your place.
00:14:44Yes, as for us, four ministries, we really
00:14:49hearing. Now, colleagues,
00:14:53please,
00:14:56intervention,
00:14:59repeat the question that your colleague asked. The
00:15:03second thing is to register for
00:15:06one question so that we leave room
00:15:09for colleagues. And as for us, no question
00:15:13that has not been answered will be left unaddressed. Our colleague,
00:15:16the head of the Energy Committee, will collect them with our colleagues in the Energy Committee and they will
00:15:20write a written response to every question that was not answered in this
00:15:24session. Mr. Minister of Energy, and the
00:15:29the next session, God willing.
00:15:32Dear colleagues, we open
00:15:35the floor for registration.
00:15:40Okay, we will open the floor for registration for
00:15:43two or three minutes, and after that, we will close it, and this closure
00:15:47is final. The
00:15:50other matter,
00:15:59one press, guys, for the intervention. Please
00:16:03do not repeat. Please go straight to the question. One
00:16:06question, if you please. I invite my colleague
00:16:09Mu'ayyad to start. Five questions. Five
00:16:13questions we receive from five participants, and then
00:16:18Minister to record the questions so that
00:16:21they can be answered question by question so that no question
00:16:25is accidentally missed. May God bless you all. I invite my colleague Mu'ayyad to read the names.
00:16:28Colleague Nour Jandali, start from
00:16:31your side.
00:16:34Your Excellency, the Minister, Syria witnessed in recent days
00:16:38widespread protests covering
00:16:41against the rising fuel
00:16:44prices. This popular pressure pushed the Syrian government,
00:16:48after a few days, to approve a package of emergency measures, including
00:16:52offering three prices for diesel and restarting some
00:16:55local refineries to provide subsidized fuel
00:16:58for heating and agriculture sectors. What does
00:17:01the ministry learn from this societal response? Does the ministry have
00:17:05an institutional mechanism to measure the social impact of any
00:17:09economic decision before its issuance and to listen to the affected groups
00:17:13instead of waiting for the livelihood damage to turn into
00:17:16a crisis of trust between the citizen and their institutions? How
00:17:20will this trust be restored for marginalized groups?
00:17:24And will the ministry commit that any future adjustment in
00:17:27energy prices will be preceded by a published study of its economic
00:17:30and social cost,
00:17:33and also with a clear mechanism to protect the most affected groups? Thank you.
00:17:39Colleague Fajr Fawzi
00:17:40Al-Ahmad,
00:17:43In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to God, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of God. Indeed, Your Excellency, the
00:17:47Minister, spoke to us in numbers, and we speak
00:17:50in pain. I say to him, the world has narrowed for us despite its vastness,
00:17:54and people's eyes have wept from its tribulation. Indeed, the wounds have deepened
00:17:58in our hearts, and the calamity is like salt sprinkled on its blood. The high prices
00:18:01are global, we know that, and this may be commensurate with the income of citizens in other
00:18:05countries, but it is not commensurate with the income
00:18:07in Syria. Does the state have a plan to support
00:18:11the poor by providing winter fuel? And I will touch on some
00:18:14topics. The oncology hospital in Deir Ezzor resulted
00:18:18from a genuine necessity in Deir Ezzor,
00:18:21because most of the affected people are due to
00:18:24oil revenues, and this is specialized in the Ministry of Energy. It is known
00:18:27that 100 cases are recorded in Syria, 51
00:18:31of which are from Deir Ezzor. And I mentioned earlier that the Al-Jardhi area has
00:18:35a large number, and it is a small village in that governorate.
00:18:38The other matter is that the crude oil refineries in
00:18:41Deir Ezzor were stopped, and no job opportunities were provided
00:18:45for those who work there, despite the fact that they meet the needs of many
00:18:48families. The other important matter is that
00:18:51this eastern governorate consists of agricultural governorates,
00:18:55and electricity was cut off from agricultural cooperatives
00:18:58which led to the failure of the summer
00:19:02agricultural project. We hope
00:19:05for fuel support for citizens and attention to agriculture and water
00:19:09resources, and the existence
00:19:13the eastern region. May God reward you well.
00:19:17Colleague Ahmed Mahmoud Al-Khalaf
00:19:19Al-Shalash, In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Mr. President,
00:19:23Your Excellency, the Minister, honorable members of Parliament, peace and blessings of God
00:19:26be upon you. I will speak here in technical
00:19:29language, Your Excellency, about a problem that concerns Syria
00:19:33in general. As you know, the network
00:19:37of the electricity system, the backbone
00:19:40of this network, is the ring main units, and whatever the quality of
00:19:43these circuit breakers, SF6 or vacuum, according to the recommendations of international
00:19:47manufacturing companies, ABB or Siemens or Schneider.
00:19:51Their lifespan is 25
00:19:53years or 13,000 switching operations.
00:19:57If we assume that this system was installed in 2011,
00:20:01at the beginning of 2011, and we have four
00:20:04cases today,
00:20:08therefore, 1440
00:20:11replacements within this month. This means that within ten
00:20:14years, their lifespan ended. This
00:20:18is assuming they undergo the necessary periodic maintenance.
00:20:22What are your steps in this regard, and have
00:20:25surveys and field assessments been carried out, and have
00:20:29needs been identified, and budgets allocated
00:20:31for that? I move
00:20:33to
00:20:35another branch related to the energy sector.
00:20:37Regarding the city of Raqqa, unfortunately, Your Excellency, the
00:20:41Minister, and I am not speaking regionally here, but because these
00:20:45sectors are service-oriented and directly affect people's lives.
00:20:48Regarding the governance and institution building, the director of
00:20:52electricity is from outside the city of Raqqa. The director of
00:20:55electricity was dismissed, and he knows the poles,
00:20:59transformers, and connection units,
00:21:02and street lighting better than he knows his own children.
00:21:06The Directorate of
00:21:07ال
00:21:11Water Resources, Mr. Ahmed, if you please,
00:21:15I want you to look at
00:21:17I asked for one question. You
00:21:20entered with the third question now. Maybe your other
00:21:23colleagues will take it if I repeat the word.
00:21:27Doctor, please stop me if I repeat the word. Doctor,
00:21:31please. Four upcoming sessions, I will not raise my hand
00:21:34or intervene again, but let me intervene in this matter, please, Doctor.
00:21:38I mean, if each of them does that, then we won't get anywhere
00:21:41today or tomorrow. We asked for one question. We kindly ask
00:21:45our colleagues to abide by it. We will abide.
00:21:48from outside the city, and holds a veterinary
00:21:53medicine degree, despite the fact that the city is brimming
00:21:56with specialists.
00:22:00The director of the Euphrates Dam is from outside
00:22:03the city. I mean,
00:22:06what will you tell the people of Raqqa? What will you tell the
00:22:10regard? I move to
00:22:13the energy sector. We have
00:22:17two crises and on two levels. The first level is
00:22:20a resource crisis, and the second level is a resource management crisis. A resource
00:22:23management crisis.
00:22:26Otherwise,
00:22:28the oil sector
00:22:32would have started developing policies
00:22:35and scenarios for absorbing external shocks,
00:22:38instead of the SBC withdrawing
00:22:41and this shock directly falling
00:22:45on the Syrian people's heads. It was possible
00:22:48to implement policies
00:22:51that would alleviate this shock, including, for example,
00:22:54a storage policy. It was possible to buy
00:22:58what was needed when
00:23:00the price of oil was reasonable,
00:23:03and we are aware of what surrounds
00:23:07us, both in terms of country
00:23:09and regional conditions. So there is
00:23:13a problem in managing this sector,
00:23:16starting from production to the pipeline, as you mentioned.
00:23:20Your Excellency, and its cost and its damage to
00:23:23the oil pipelines,
00:23:25and the
00:23:27road networks. Also, regarding
00:23:31the Banyas refinery going out of service, is there
00:23:34no maintenance and operation team that gives recommendations
00:23:38and suggestions for the necessity of this
00:23:40maintenance? Was it not
00:23:44possible to provide
00:23:46a refinery, to provide a refinery before
00:23:50this refinery went out of service? And I will stop here.
00:23:54Okay, I'll stop. Okay. God bless you.
00:24:00Raqqa intervened. Thank you, Your Excellency, the Minister.
00:24:03I and the Secretary's colleague,
00:24:06I mean, because of the many questions, we agreed on one
00:24:09question per person. I ask colleagues to abide by that. Please, Your Excellency, the
00:24:12Minister, answer these questions, if you please.
00:24:16Thank you. The answer is indeed, Your Excellency, the Minister. God willing,
00:24:20we will start at the beginning. The answer is pending with
00:24:23the Parliament, we have endured. Yes.
00:24:25And
00:24:31regarding the issue of the protests
00:24:35that happened, we understand
00:24:38the hardship and poverty that drove people,
00:24:41and the difficulty of securing petroleum products for heating. And perhaps
00:24:45diesel is linked to many goods.
00:24:49I mean, the high prices of diesel are possibly linked to transportation, bread,
00:24:52and so on. But the option we chose was not
00:24:56a matter of preference or
00:25:02the ministry or the company to go with these prices. Reality forced
00:25:06us to. The company
00:25:09buy petroleum products. So we were faced with the choice of either
00:25:12securing these products
00:25:15at these prices, as I mentioned a while ago, 26 Syrian pounds per
00:25:19liter. Or
00:25:22we would enter into crises, fuel crises.
00:25:25And what we have is local production. And what we can import, we import.
00:25:28But queues will return, and we will have to use the smart card again. This
00:25:32is an option. And if the brothers in the People's Assembly
00:25:36agree to this option, then it is easier for us, whether in electricity or
00:25:40oil. I mean, today, these are the financial figures
00:25:43I have as the Ministry of Energy for electricity
00:25:46and oil, and this is my need. So if
00:25:50you agree that we give, for example, 50 liters of support
00:25:54to each family, as it was with the smart card,
00:25:57and then reopen the black market for petroleum products,
00:26:00and it just becomes two dollars or two and a half
00:26:03dollars, as it is in many countries now. We know
00:26:06that the individual's income cannot be compared to
00:26:10other countries to say that the prices of petroleum products
00:26:13consider this solution appropriate, write it down for us, send it to us, I am ready.
00:26:17They will immediately adopt it, that we return to the smart card, 50 liters,
00:26:20and then the black market, and
00:26:23this issue will not be resolved. Transportation
00:26:27costs will increase, and production costs will increase.
00:26:30Believe me, this is based on experience.
00:26:34The solution, excuse me, colleague Nour, excuse me, the solution is not
00:26:37to take this as a solution. We went towards reducing losses. We are not
00:26:41saying that the Syrian Petroleum Company is making a profit. You saw
00:26:44all the figures are supported. We reduce the losses of the Syrian Petroleum Company,
00:26:48and the Ministry of Finance will be patient with us for a while with the funds we need to pay them.
00:26:51for their projects. The alternative
00:26:54financial return, despite the fact that it's going back to square one, is the
00:26:57flares that are in the Eastern region, and I regret that many
00:27:00of them got cancer. The largest part of it is
00:27:04due to the flares that were there and the
00:27:07so I this issue, and not just because of the flares, but also due to the poor oil production.
00:27:11I said today, we stopped 30,000 barrels per day of production for the health
00:27:15of the people when the
00:27:18the lands and reaches the groundwater or pollutes the rivers
00:27:22or something else. It is our duty to close these wells so that they don't pollute, or when
00:27:25the radiation level is high coming out of the wells and accumulating
00:27:29in oil lakes, we don't allow it. I shut down these
00:27:32wells, rehabilitated them, and maintained them. Then we operate them again,
00:27:36and even if the company loses a certain amount of production, it is a loss
00:27:39for the company during that period. But the introduction
00:27:42of the new material, we have adjusted it first
00:27:45with flares that are somewhat electric, with a lower percentage of carbon
00:27:49emissions, under the supervision of the Syrian Oil Company.
00:27:52From the entry of the material to its exit, under our administration, the distribution issue will not
00:27:56become a black market, mixing, and so on. We will specify
00:27:59specific gas stations for the use of this material to monitor it and follow up to prevent fraud.
00:28:05talk implies that many weak-willed people
00:28:08the second material, or the second material with the third material, and sell it as
00:28:12if it is of this type and this kind. We will make every effort
00:28:15and mobilize all our cadres in the Department of Energy Services and the Syrian
00:28:19Oil Company to take daily samples from all stations because
00:28:23it is usually very easy to connect between the tanks and mix
00:28:26the two materials. It is not very difficult, so we will make every effort to
00:28:30prevent this fraud.
00:28:32And we didn't want to go with this solution. Why did we go to it?
00:28:36After we issued the tariff first, we were able to secure it.
00:28:39After that, we were open to looking for cheaper diesel with
00:28:43lower quality, and we were able to secure it after we issued the tariff, after we
00:28:47communicated with one of the sister countries and secured this material at a lower
00:28:50price. We were able to take 150 without profits and without
00:28:54losses at this price. And regarding
00:28:57the improved diesel, which will be for heating
00:29:01and other things, God willing, we will regulate it and try as much as possible to control fraud,
00:29:04mixing, and acts of transgression. Regarding the issue of
00:29:08workers in the flares, the day we stopped them, we took all their names and told them to come
00:29:12and work with us at the Syrian Oil Company, and this is a promise I made to them when I met
00:29:15with them, and we are still keeping our promise. But let's be realistic,
00:29:19also today, the salaries of the Syrian Oil Company, the Syrian
00:29:23Electricity Company, and the Ministry of Energy have you seen any qualitative increase for
00:29:26the Ministry of Energy? Nothing has changed qualitatively for the Ministry of Energy. We are still
00:29:30under the employees' law. I went to the Euphrates Dam, and the engineers there
00:29:33are still earning around $120
00:29:36almost. That is, their salary
00:29:40in Syrian lira is about 1.5 million and 1.7 million and so on.
00:29:43Engineers are there. Well,
00:29:46the old salaries. We are
00:29:49waiting for the new basic system for the oil company to be approved. Then it has the right to issue
00:29:53a new wage system that will be adopted, and the Syrian Electricity
00:29:56Company as well, and the Syrian Company. We made some expertise contracts, attracted
00:30:00some cadres and engineers, and made contracts for them. They have good salaries, but the majority
00:30:04of employees are like that. So many of the flare employees said, "Brother, I won't come to work for
00:30:08$100 or $120 or whatever." So he refused to
00:30:11enter the labor sector. We, as a centralized ministry, did many interviews
00:30:15in the competition. They said, "If the wages are like this, we cannot work." God
00:30:19willing, salaries will reach good levels like other ministries
00:30:24issue to the presidency, the Ministry of Finance, and the General
00:30:27Secretariat, and it is under study. The President directed
00:30:30to study the ministries, and the economy. The Ministry of Economy
00:30:34is still saying the same thing, that it is still under the law, not all ministries received the qualitative
00:30:38increases. They received the 550%, meaning that someone whose salary was $20
00:30:41became about $120. And this is true. My salary was $20-30,
00:30:44it became $150. As for
00:30:47the other issue,
00:30:50which is the infrastructure that Professor Ahmed mentioned. Of course, Professor Ahmed and I
00:30:54discussed it a little while ago, and he mentioned the same thing that I want to mention again. I told
00:30:58him, if you received it, if you want to mention it, mention it.