[dehai-news] (VOA) Parts of Ethiopia Plunge into Darkness


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From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Sun Jul 12 2009 - 16:16:12 EDT


Parts of Ethiopia Plunge into Darkness

By Jalene Gemeda

Washington DC
10/07/2009
  
The power shortage in Ethiopia is affecting many areas of service.Addis
Ababa and large urban centers experience blackouts for three or four
nights a week.
 
Mehret Debebe, the CEO of the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation says
the outages will continue through July. Urban neighborhoods are without
water, health facilities are without light and water, factories have
shut down, shelves in many stores are empty and a growing number of
people are without jobs.
 
The price of candles, lanterns and kerosene are rising every day,
according to some residents.In some communities, residents complain that
they are being billed for the electric power they haven't used. The
power outages frequently interrupt classes in schools, colleges and
universities in many regions in Ethiopia where students follow lessons
on large-screen plasma television monitors and perform research on
computers. Evening classes are often plunged into darkness and
cancelled.
 
"Because the country is going through a transforming economic growth, we
are experiencing power shortages," Mehret said. "Industries are
booming, trade and the rate we are bringing electricity to rural towns
created the shortage.
 
"We saw a 24 percent increase in demand. The problem persisted because
our planned commissioning of two hydro-electric generating projects was
postponed.
 
Minister of Energy and Mines Alemayehu Tegenu says upon completion of
projects, Ethiopia not only will cover its electricity demand, but also,
plans are already in place to export power to neighboring countries. "We
are completing the construction of power cables that connect our
hydro-electric power stations to neighboring countries," he said.
 
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said, "The country is unable to curb the
problem of power shortage on time, because our development partners
didn't provide us the support they had promised earlier. The shortage
and the untimeliness of rain in Ethiopia is also another major factor
that contributed to the problem."
 
http://www.voanews.com/horn/2009-07-10-voa1.cfm

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