An Egyptian government official has blamed a natural gas deal with Israel for the country's power cuts, the independent daily al-Shorouq reported Wednesday.
The export agreement leaves less gas to run the local power plants, an unnamed official at the Ministry of Electricity was quoted as saying. The official argued that the decrease in gas provisions to power plants began in 2004, when Egypt started exporting gas to Israel, DPA reported.
Power outages have plagued many of Egypt's cities and villages, with demand heightened by air conditioner and refrigeration use as summer temperatures exceed 40 degrees Celsius. Ageing infrastructure has struggled to keep up with the growth in the country's economy and population.
Mohamed Awad, head of the Electricity Holding Company, confirmed that recent power cuts were a result of the Ministry of Petroleum not providing electricity plants with enough natural gas.
The gas shortage has led to a 16,000-megawatt dip in the power supply, Awad said.