SANA’A – The security administration in Sana’a issued directions last week aiming to shortlist all of the saboteurs involved in attacks on the electricity lines in Sana’a governorate in 2011 to 2012, the Interior Ministry has said.

 The Interior Ministry website said the directions called for prompt preparations for a list of blacklisted individuals accused of storming the power towers; the list will be delivered to the ministry as soon so as possible so that action can be taken.

 Hussein Al-Faqeh, the Operations Department manager in Sana’a, told the Yemen Times that the list includes the perpetrators in Marib; this list will be made public and the saboteurs will be pursued.

 Mohammed Al-Jarbani, the General Manager for Electricity in the capital, said that the repeated attacks expose the station to damages; he indicated that if the situation continues as it is now, generators will break down and the station would be destroyed.

 The electricity transportation lines are still subjected to repeated assaults by tribesmen in spite of security and sheikhs’ pledges to protect the power towers. Attacks have not yet stopped.

 Ali Al-Hilali, the Rural Electrification Project manager in Mareb, told the paper the ineffectiveness of the Interior Ministry decree would help increase repetitive attacks on electricity towers.

 These attacks are apparently politicized though attackers claim they have demands, according to Al-Hilali.

Al-Jarbani indicated that the electricity sector has been exposed to serious damages. The income of the Public Electricity Corporation has slumped in 2011 from 90 percent to 40 percent, he said, adding that the station built in the 1980s is no longer workable. It operates solely due the efforts of engineers, technicians and workers.

Al-Jarbani pointed out that the corporation has conducted several studies with regard to expanding the capacity of stations, or making use of natural gas in the explored petroleum sector in order to operate large gas stations in Hadramout and Shabwa. The feasibility of coal is also studied to be established in Al-Hodeida and Aden, said Al-Jarbani.

He called the government to resolve the electricity problems and take procedures via a joint committee involving the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, the Ministry of Electricity and Energy and the Ministry of Petroleum and Mine.