Power play

Debts collectors are at the door of government departments which are in arrears of paying their electricity and water bills, writes Mohamed El-Sayed

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"It's unreasonable that the power be cut off from the city hall of the capital of the Arab Republic of Egypt at a time when we have to make preparations for any emergency during Eid," wrote Governor of Cairo Abdel-Azim Wazir to Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif two weeks ago, complaining about a decision to cut off power at government departments which have not paid their electricity bills. But Wazir's note went unnoticed and for four days the governor and his staff resorted to kerosene lamps to illuminate their offices.

The quarrel began in early October when Minister of Electricity Hassan Younis ordered a power shut down at entities which are in serious arrears of paying their electricity bills. More than 95 per cent of government departments have not paid their bills, according to the ministry, which amounts to hundreds of millions of pounds in accumulated debt. They include the Cairo Governorate and its affiliate bodies, ministries, press organisations, the National Democratic Party, as well as government bodies in other governorates.

Younis stressed that the reason behind this problem is that these entities don't pay their bills when they are due, despite the fact that Minister of Finance Youssef Boutros-Ghali has paid these departments the money needed to foot the electricity bills.

"We need this money because the ministry spends LE7 billion annually on power plant projects and necessary maintenance," stated Younis, adding that the electricity sector also pays LE8 billion each year to oil companies for the fuel oil used in power plants. "This decision is aimed at [forcing] government bodies to save power," he explained.

The move, according to electricity officials, has in fact bore fruit. "Several entities paid a large part of their debts to power companies," disclosed an electricity official who sought anonymity. It has also encouraged the water company to follow suit, especially that it suffered power loss at its downtown offices for not paying the electricity bill.

The Water Holding Company (WHC) sent notification to about 44 government bodies warning that the taps will be turned off if they don't make payment. According to WCH Chairman Mohamed Abdel-Zaher, debts amount to more than LE700 million.

The inter-governmental conflict has sparked a wave of criticism in parliament. Hussein Mohamed Ibrahim, deputy head of the Muslim Brotherhood parliamentary bloc, called for a meeting of officials from the committees of local administration, planning and budget, industry and energy to solve this "government-against- government crisis". Ibrahim noted that government bodies have failed in solving their problems amongst themselves because "they work as if they were islands." According to him, the only loser in this confrontation is "the ordinary citizen".