Power outages, protests plague Morsi’s Egypt
Brownouts lasting from a few hours to whole days ravage the Nile; Morsi orders construction of infrastructure as people protest paying bills
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In an apparent attempt to quell public anger, Egypt’s President Momammed Morsi apologized to his people Sunday for power outages that are plaguing the country. “I am sorry for the power cuts. I have the same problem at home and I promise it will be solved as soon as possible,” Mosri was reported by Al Arabiya as saying.
Brownouts have left Cairo districts in the dark for a few hours at a time, but the southern governorates of Asyut, Sohag, al-Wadi al-Gadid, Minya, Fayoum, and Beni Suef have all faced outages that last up to an entire day, Al Arabiya reported.
The summer’s brownouts have generated a social protest movement that calls on the public not to pay electric bills. “We won’t pay,” is the name of the Socialist Popular Alliance’s campaign, according to Egypt Independent online. The party launched the campaign in the Imbaba neighborhood of Giza, where power cuts can last for two hours per day.
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This is the third summer of such power outages, but the first under Egypt’s newly–elected Muslim Brotherhood president. Morsi last week ordered the construction of two new power grids in order to meet demand, the Independent reported.
Egypt produces 22,300 megawatts and is facing a 20% shortage of 4,000 megawatts. Causes of the shortages range from insufficient fuel to labor shortages and overconsumption, according to the report.
The Times of Israel Community.