Sharjah: Power outages, which lasted for long hours in the city during the past six weeks, ended during the Eid holidays, but industrialists and workshop owners in Sharjah are still not confident if the rationing system will continue in the future.

Power outages hit large sections of the industrial areas and two free zones in the emirate since August 17, resulting in economic loss to the businesses of more than Dh500 million according to economic analysts and business owners.

The head of an industrial firm at Sharjah Airport International Free Zone-SAIF, told Gulf News that regular power supply resumed last week, but business owners are still not confident about the future due to lack of explanation from Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (SEWA) about the nature of the problem that lasted for six weeks in the emirate.

The industrialist, who spoke on condition of anonymity, complained that his project will suffer losses this year because he had to annul large part of his contracts in Ramadan.

"We wait for the increase in sale of food items we produce during Ramadan, but power outages this year forced our dreams of making good profits to vanish and to replace such dreams with actual hefty losses," he said. He said the factory he manages made Dh50,000 loss daily during Ramadan because of irregularity in power supply.

"I lost three tonnes of raw materials as a result of power cuts on August 17 that lasted for 10 hours. I had to destroy raw material which was in the mixers as they get spoilt when the temperature reaches 41 degree centigrade," he said.

"I understand emergencies. As an industrialist, I expect accidents and prepare my staff to deal with it, but what I can't accept is the lack of explanation from SEWA officials, who failed to calm down the public and help them to understand the situation to overcome it," he said.

"We have approached SAIF authority for an explanation but they told us that power outages are beyond their control and they cannot help industries in the zone. They told me personally that the power supply situation is too critical and SEWA can do nothing to stop power cuts from happening," he said.

Have you purchased a generator or inverter due to the power outages? Has your business been affected? How did you cope with the electricity shortage?