STORY: Egypt to halt load-shedding power cuts
SHOOTING TIME: recent and file footage
DATELINE: July 18, 2024
LENGTH: 00:00:46
LOCATION: Cairo
CATEGORY: POLITICS

SHOTLIST: 
1. various of Egyptian Prime Minister at a press conference (courtesy: Egyptian Cabinet)
2. various of the headquarters of the Egyptian Ministry of Electricity
3. various of electric grid

STORYLINE:

Egypt will suspend rotating power outages starting from July 21 to brace users for summer heatwaves, the Egyptian prime minister announced Wednesday.

"As of Sunday, July 21, we will stop the load-shedding plan nationwide during the summer period, that is, until mid-September," Mostafa Madbouly said at a press conference aired on the state TV.

Madbouly explained that the government has recently been importing the fuel necessary for adequate power generation, adding that the power crisis is expected to be resolved completely by the end of the year.

"I promise the Egyptian citizens that we will work in full swing to completely reduce load-shedding after the summer months until the crisis is completely resolved before the end of the year," he said.

Madbouly said that recent heatwaves brought an over 12 percent increase in electricity consumption compared to the same period last year.

For a year, Egypt has taken daily load-shedding power cuts to ensure the safe operation of the grid and generation facilities, which has lately increased to a three-hour power outage every day.

In late June, Madbouly pointed out that Egypt would need to import 1.18 billion U.S. dollars worth of mazut and natural gas in total to halt the rationing power cuts.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Cairo.
(XHTV)