Gaza municipality to reduce its service after severe budget deficit

“This step was adopted in order to give an opportunity to continue offering our services as long as possible using the given abilities.”

Gaza municipality to reduce its service after sever budget deficit in Gaza due to coronavirus on 28 April 2020 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

The municipality of Gaza yesterday announced that it would start reducing its services gradually in order to avoid a complete collapse due to the budget deficit which has resulted from the outbreak of the coronavirus.

In a statement, the municipality said: “This step was adopted in order to give an opportunity to continue offering our services as long as possible using the given abilities.”

The municipality said that this decision came 52 days after Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas’ declaration of the state of emergency in the Palestinian territories as part of the fight against the spread of the coronavirus.

“Many parties gave up their responsibilities towards the besieged Gaza Strip at the time of economic deterioration and a decline in the number of people who pay their bills for the municipality’s services,” the statement said.

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According to the statement, the municipality said that the collection of rubbish from the streets would be affected by this decision, calling for people to reduce their waste.

The sterilisation of public spaces has “exhausted the budget”, municipality officials said.

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