Masoud Pezeshkian, the President, emphasized the need for enhanced inter-agency coordination and continuous monitoring during a session reviewing the optimization and management of fuel consumption. He stated that the government bears the discomfort caused by the limitation of unbalanced privileges and clarified that the dissatisfaction of low-income groups regarding the distribution of resources and public support should not happen.
Necessity of Organizing the Fuel Distribution System
During this meeting, a report was presented on the actions taken to organize the fuel distribution system and prevent the misuse of fuel cards, emphasizing that these actions would be accompanied by a daily reduction of about 3 to 5 million liters in fuel consumption. Additionally, the amount of fuel imports in October has decreased by 58% compared to October of last year.
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Main Goal of the Government: Establishing Justice
Pezeshkian continued by saying that the main goal of the government in reforming the mechanisms of energy subsidy distribution is not to generate revenue, but to establish justice in the distribution of national resources. He emphasized that the media and officials should explain the various aspects of reform policies to society and not allow the issue of justice in resource distribution to be considered solely from the perspective of price changes.
Pezeshkian also pointed to the necessity of revising the method of gas subsidy allocation and stressed the need to design a fair mechanism for households to benefit from government support. He added that receiving subsidy quotas should be regulated, and consumption exceeding the determined quota should be subject to pricing based on actual costs.
Combating Fuel Smuggling
The President pointed out the necessity of identifying and cutting off access for violators to subsidy privileges, stating that the first step should be to deal with individuals involved in fuel smuggling. He emphasized that a continuous and data-driven monitoring system over the supply chain, transfer, and consumption of fuel should be established.
Pezeshkian stated in this regard: If management, control, and monitoring of fuel consumption are carried out accurately and continuously, it should be clear how much fuel is consumed in the country and how much is diverted from the official distribution network. He also stressed the need to identify the source of any deviation in the distribution chain.
Management of Fuel Consumption in Public Transport Fleet
The President considered organizing fuel consumption in the public transport fleet, especially urban buses and minibuses, as another essential aspect of reforming consumption patterns. He emphasized the need to create an accurate database of the fleet's status and its fuel consumption.
Pezeshkian stressed that the fuel consumption of the fleet under government management must be transparent, documented, and subject to oversight, and no agency should neglect its responsibilities regarding fuel consumption management.
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