New traffic regulations hurt free movement, say residents

The decision by the Iraqi authorities to regulate vehicle traffic in an attempt to ease long queues at pumping stations and control jams in the capital, Baghdad, has hindered free movement in the city, local residents said. It also led to a huge increase in the black market price of petrol. Drivers, who have had to put up with shortages for sometime, said petrol now costs up to $1 a litre on the black market, up from $0.05 before the new regulations were effected in August. Under the new rules, only cars with odd-numbered registration plates can be driven and fuelled on a particular day. Those with even numbers are driven and fueled on the next. Drivers who flout the directive face a US $35 fine. “The decision to alternate days for cars moving and fueling in the capital was taken to decrease the consumption of petrol and diminish traffic jams that have become one of the most serious problems in Baghdad,” Salam Jihad, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Oil, told IRIN on Sunday. He said the government decision was a response to shortages caused by constant attacks on pipelines and the few functional refineries in the county during the ongoing insurgency. This had made it difficult to move fuel products around the country. “It [the new regulations] will affect the movement of insurgents in the city,” Jihad added. Col. Abed Ahmed, a senior officer in the Ministry of Interior, said the law has already had an effect. “We can see a decrease in car bomb attacks, since the implementation of the new law will [make it] more difficult for the terrorists to move in cars on different dates.” Zacarias Hitti, 46, a Baghdad resident disagreed. “The government cannot offer security to the country and bring order [when] it is the population of Iraq which has to stay at home on alternate days and pay fines even if it is an emergency case,” he said. Muthana Debi, 28, a black market petrol seller said that the new law has been great for business. “It is a better time to work. Everyday I bring home at least $60 and I can say that it is better than any government job. I hope the crisis continues because I would have a good job for long time.” Iraq has the world's third-largest oil reserves, but its economy has been disrupted by insurgency since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in April 2003. The oil ministry has spent billions of dollars repairing and replacing infrastructure damaged or destroyed by attacks by insurgents. According to officials, 315 attacks on oil facilities took place from June 2003 to June 2005, causing a massive loss of revenue from oil exports at a time when international prices for are high. The cost of repairing the damage was more than US $12 billion. Iraqi oil production is currently running at around two million barrels per day, mostly from fields in southern Iraq. Oil experts say the country should be producing a minimum of seven million barrels daily but only if security improves and $20 billion is invested to improve the ageing infrastructure.