and meanwhile the US is taking us to court over the cutting supply to gas to Israel meanwhile Israelis and Jordanians get their gas cheaper than we Egyptians do meanwhile we get power cuts because our last regime sold our gas for pennies when we had not enough for our own people and did not expand production to meet our own needs Is it any wonder the gas lines are being blown up! Is it any wonder why Egyptians are so angry with that gas deal, now that we are in the high temperatures and need extra power for air con but give gas to the Israelis and Jordanians so that they can have it and we can't! Is that fair! Our last regime has a lot to answer for!
The Americans are taking court action? Isn't it the joint company East Mediterranean Gas that is doing that and isn't that normal when a part in a contract defaults? Perhaps if the pipeline hadn't been blown up so often then you could alleviate some of your electricity production probelms by imports from Jordan? It is very inefficient and wasteful for a country like Egypt to have production capacity to meet an anual peek demand with Ramadan and hot weather. You could learn from the developed world where peek demands are typically smoothed through trade in electricity so expensive plants are not left idle for 11 months of the year. Gas is not given to Israelis or Jordanians, its sold at contracted prices. If business cntracts aren't kept isn't it fair to seek recompense through the courts? In any case its not lack of gas but lack of electricity production capacity that's the problem so stopping gas exports only exacerbates the problem creating uncertainty in the investment environment. How is the environmentally friendly electricity production from the wind power plants developed under the old regime? Is that something the new regime is going to trash?
I doubt any regime would/can afford to abandon any source of energy. I guess energy and power cuts/prospective power cuts is a worldwide problem. Here's another : ".Kuraymat solar plant to boost Egypt's power production By John Radcliff / Daily News Egypt July 5, 2011, 6:31 pm CAIRO: As the summer months usher in heat from the sun above making this region unique to the world, Egypt is taking a new step forward in harnessing this untapped energy source. Tucked away roughly 90 km south of the bustling streets of Cairo lies Kuraymat, the site of Egypts first hybrid solar power plant. The New & Renewable Energy Authority (NREA), an Egyptian government body, selected this site in 1997 from four others throughout Egypt. Spanning across the uninhabited desert landscape, the plant will collect solar energy through a total mirror surface area of 130,000m2. Kuraymat will feature parabolic trough technology integrated with combined cycle power using natural gas as a fuel. Combining the product of natural gas and solar absorption, the hybrid power plant will be capable of producing 150 megawatts of power, a solar share of 20 megawatts. Funds secured from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) of the World Bank, the Japanese International Co-Operation Agency (JICA), and pledges from the NREA have allowed for the realization of this operation. "The fruitful international co-operation played an important role in moving from the phase of experimental projects with limited capacities to large scale renewable energy grid-connected projects, said Hassan Ahmed Younes, Egyptian Minister of Electricity & Energy at this years annual NREA meeting. The NREA has collaborated with the German firm Solar Millennium Group, in particular its technology subsidiary Flagsol GmbH. Flagsol has designed the majority of instruments used in the solar field and was.................... read more : http://thedailynewsegypt.com/energy/kuraymat-solar-plant-to-boost-egypts-power-production.html ----
The deal was illegal. It was done by corrupt businessmen. It went against our courts. No more has to be said.
No not really, electricity supply has never been more assured here with power cables running all over the place and a multitude of producers including 20% wind generated. All very well however in the present climate anyone like Hassan Ahmed Younes who was appointed by Mubarak and is from that time risks being thrown to the mob as a corrupt Mubarak crony, all contracts and agreements scrapped as "illegal" and Western companies involvment stamped as unwanted foreign interference. Even if the present military junta sees positively on such a project it doesn't take more than a malicious rumour of a Jewish conspiracy for the mobs to take matters into their own hands, ride off into the desert and blow the whole thing up.
Just because a deal is signed by corrupt businessmen it doesn't make it illegal. Where would we be if any party to a business contract could suddenly turn around and claim it nul and void because their representatives were corrupt? Do you remember the corrupt broker Nick Leeson? Do you think his company Barings Bank could go back on all the deals he made because he was corrupt? I'm afrid it doesn't work like that and there will be plenty more to be said and heard and by the end of the day confidence in doing business in Egypt will have taken a serious crack.
It was illegal. Our courts said it was illegal. Our constitution says that sale of mineral resources must be approved by the Shura Council. It wasn't brought before them. It did not have government approval therefore it is illegal.
No, your supreme court ruled it legal: The supreme administrative court has said that the lower court which made that ruling has no jurisdiction in cases of this kind because they involved state sovereignty. source Your country doesn't have a working constitution any more, it has a military junta albeit according to you a popular one. How could it not have government approval when your government according to you, was Mubarak's dictatorship? Your new regime has the power to renigade on past agreements however trying to dress up doing so as you do is deceit and risks bringing the legal system into disrepute. This is not the best time for Egypt to show it cannot be trusted.
