Egyptians seethe as power cuts bite

Cairo: Egypt has been hit in the past few days by frequent electricity outages, prompting angry locals in several areas to block major roads and encircle power stations in protest.

“These cuts, which last for long hours every day, is another proof of the inefficiency of this government, which [President Mohammad] Mursi keeps despite its glaring failings,” said Salah Mahmoud, a Cairo volunteer in “We Won’t Pay”, an anti-government group campaigning against paying power bills.

The blackouts come as thousands of students sit for their final-year exams and temperatures climb in this country of 85 million people.

Earlier this week, the electricity ministry made an unprecedented apology for the cuts, urging the public to conserve energy by switching off air-conditioners and heaters at peak consumption times.

“What is the use of this apology? The government has failed to do its homework and want the people to accept this and even pay for it,” Mahmoud told Gulf News. “Is this the light of the ‘Renaissance Programme’?” he sarcastically said, referring to a development-related manifesto touted by the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mursi during his election campaign for presidency last year.

Government officials have attributed the disruptions in the electricity supply to a liquidity crunch, which makes it hard for the country to import the fuel necessary to operate power stations.

The Islamist-led government this week said it would allocate an extra $200 million for these imports.

Egyptian economy has been in the doldrums in recent months, prompting the government to seek a $4.8 billion (Dh17.6 billion) loan from the International Monetary Fund.

The country’s foreign holdings dropped to $13.4 billion in April from around $36 billion in the final days of the rule of president Hosni Mubarak who was ousted in an uprising in February 2011.

The power cuts, Egypt’s worst in years, are expected to worsen as the consumption rates soar in summer.

The local media reported this week that Mahmoud Al Rasheedi, the presiding judge in the retrial of Mubarak, has complained that he could not read the 55,000 documents of the case due to the recurrent power outage in his hometown of Suez.

Meanwhile, food businesses have reported huge losses due to the damage caused to their goods by the blackouts.

The opposition Social Democratic Egyptian Party has announced that all its 42 offices across the nation have been equipped with emergency generators and will be open for students to study for examinations.

“Why shouldn’t the authorities tell us in advance when the electricity is cut so that we can be prepared?” a Cairo woman fumed in a call-in to a local TV show.

“What would be the situation like if the cut occurred while one is trapped inside an elevator?”

Government officials rejected the suggestion, saying that announcing a schedule of the cuts beforehand could provide ideal circumstances for outlaws.

Egypt has experienced a rise in crime rates, including robberies and carjackings, due to security breakdown amid reports of mob justice done by villagers against suspected thieves.

The situation has given rise to a thriving business in emergency rechargeable torchlights, generators and candles, the prices of which — according to market observers — have doubled in recent weeks.