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By Moutaz Ali. Tripoli, 02 July 2014:
Electricity cuts have continued in several areas of the capital despite promises given by the . . .[restrict]General Electoral Company of Libya (GECOL) that there would be no outages during Ramadan. Areas such as Janzour continue to endure daily cuts.
In the suburb of Qasr Ben Gashir, near the airport, a cut of almost three days resulted in angry residents blocking roads and burning tyres.
Another of the worst affected areas has been in Ain Zara which endured a massive 44 hours without electricity, from sunset on Monday to 4 pm today.
The GECOL office in Ain Zara told the Libya Herald that there were technical problems with repairs needing to be undertaken. Spare parts were awaited and GECOL’s head office in Tripoli had been informed of the situation, an official said. Support from it was awaited.
However, GECOL media spokeman Lutfi Ghoma denied that any requests for spare parts had come from the Ain Zara office. He said that more power needed to be generated to meet demand in Ain Zara with its growing population.
There has been frustration and exasperation in the district. “We have given up. We had to buy our own generators,” said one local resident, “but they need petrol and that is another problem”.
Frustration has led to bitterness. “I believe the GECOL office in Ain Zara has received spare parts but they stole them,” said another resident accusingly, without any evidence.
But such is the resentment that such accusations are increasingly believed. [/restrict]
