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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 - 31 May 2000 Issue No. 483 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 - 31 May 2000 Issue No. 483
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Dance of the devil
By Fatemah FaragThe Egyptian paper industry has probably had enough. First, international prices of wood pulp plummeted, causing the market to be flooded with cheaper imported paper, which brought local factories to a near standstill, and then this -- a ravaging fire at the General Company for Paper Industry, RAKTA, in Alexandria.
The blaze began last Thursday at around 2.00pm, when some of the stored waste paper at RAKTA self-ignited. It did not take long before a large section of the 100-feddan open storage area was ablaze. Ten hours passed before the fire, that is still smouldering, was contained. "The shona [storage area] comprises stacks of waste paper and rice straw. Wild animals, such as wolves, inhabit the piles and when the fire broke out, they darted, ablaze, from one stack to the other in panic. Moreover, the winds were particularly problematic, repeatedly changing direction. I was on the front lines during the 1973 war and yet I never saw anything like it. It was like a devil dancing all over the place," said Mohamed Abdel-Baset, one of the company directors.
Fire engines from the army, navy, air defence, civil defence and neighbouring companies and governorates were used to fight the flames.
Senior officials at RAKTA, the largest Egyptian paper factory which became operational in 1961, gave Al-Ahram Weekly their version of the reasons which caused the disaster. "We are basically a recycling factory. We process used paper which we buy from government authorities and newspapers. We also process rice straw, turning it into a paste which is then used in the production of paper. The waste paper is organic and, in the heat, it is very susceptible to self-igniting. This is why the storage area is located 120 metres away from the factory, is serviced by a sprinkler network comprising 62 faucets and the piles are stacked in a specific way so as to decrease the chance of fermentation," explained Farouk El-Gamal, RAKTA's commercial director.
Company officials insisted that their safety precautions are exemplary. Signs on the walls tell workers: "Smoking is prohibited. The cost of violation is your job." A two-room fire-fighting facility was pointed out, as well as the fence that borders the shona on three sides and the sea on the fourth. They stressed that the storage area is insured and that RAKTA is subjected to investigations by the insurance company to ensure that it abides by safety regulations. "I have seen similar factories in Indonesia, the Philippines and China and I can assure you our [safety] standards are among the highest," said Abdel-Baset.
Still, since this is the month of May when inventories are taken, and possibly because of the sheer magnitude of the fire, some newspapers have hinted at the possibility of arson. An investigation is under way at the Montazah Prosecutor's Office.
Ominous ammonia tanks loom over the remains of rice straw; un-burnt waste paper stands lamely in waters used to flood the shona; water and sand: the tools being used to put out smouldering debris
photos: Sherif Sonbol
Moreover, some newspapers reported that the damage caused by the fire was as high as LE70 million. "Around LE12 million is probably more accurate," said El-Gamal and added: "As for arson, it does not make sense. What burned was garbage that had little value. We buy a ton of raw material for about LE275 and sell the final product for around LE3,000. If there was foul play, why not burn the expensive material?"
Out in the wasteland of the shona, trucks line up to be filled with sand which they transport to areas still visibly smouldering. RAKTA's 2,000 workers, in addition to the people assisting from outside, have worked 24-hour days, not only combating the fire, but also keeping the factory operational. "Even the top administration did not go home. Everyone was fighting the fire. We used our bodies, stamping out flames with our feet. After all, this is the factory that feeds our families," said Abdel-Baset. He drew attention to huge metal tanks which loom above the remaining piles of rice straw. "Of course, there was also the fear of a major explosion that would have affected the whole of Alexandria," he said.
The tanks belong to the neighbouring Abu Qir Company for Fertilisers and are filled with ammonia. A senior official at the Alexandria Governorate had told the Weekly earlier that it was feared that these tanks might catch fire. "If they [ammonia tanks] had blown up, so would have the whole of Alexandria," shuddered the official. According to people on site, RAKTA was built while taking into consideration the inflammable nature of the materials it uses, but the fertiliser factory was built in the early 1990s, in obviously dangerous proximity to the inflammable substances.
As issues of industrial safety were discussed, it was noted that markers on some of the rice straw piles indicated they dated back to the "season of 1996/97". In response to questions why such old merchandise still lay around the storage area, the general answer was that more materials than necessary for production were stored for "strategic reasons."
"It is true that the shona of RAKTA had too much material. But for the past three years, production has been forced way below the factory's capacity," lamented Rashad Fikri, head of the General Union for Chemical Industries. He went on to explain how a production capacity of 700,000 tons per year had been reduced to little over 390,000 tons. Fikri said, "About three years ago, the international price of wood pulp dropped drastically and the Egyptian market was flooded with same quality paper, but at much cheaper prices, from Indonesia and China. The difference in price was about LE400 per ton in favour of foreign products [wood pulp only accounts for 20 per cent of the components used by RAKTA in the manufacturing process]. Because paper cannot be stored -- it yellows and deteriorates quickly -- paper factories only work on order. However, paper factories continue to buy production materials even when idle."
Those who take the domestic paper industry to heart were discouraged by the general attitude towards their plight. "Even government authorities, such as the Ministry of Education which RAKTA was specifically built to service, would publish tenders which did not merely list specifications, but specifically asked for foreign paper," added Fikri.
Now, the fire is on its way to being totally doused while international wood pulp prices have climbed, putting local factories once again at an advantage. However, for how long will this situation last? "We do not know what the future holds, but one thing is sure: for the Egyptian paper industry to survive, the government must buy our products. I am not talking about monopoly either, since, at full capacity, local paper factories can only meet about 40 per cent of the market's requirements," insisted Fikri.
