Blackouts may force Sharjah residents out

Continuing power outages have left Sharjah residents wondering how much longer they can bear to stay in the emirate.

A store worker use candle to light his store in Industrial Area 1 after several parts of Sharjah fell into darkness after a power outage.

SHARJAH // Continuing power outages have left Sharjah residents wondering how much longer they can bear to stay in the dark - or even whether they will stay in the emirate. Blackouts yesterday hit six industrial areas and residential neighbourhoods such as Al Nahda, Al Qasimia, Yarmouk, Ghuwair for as long as three hours during the middle of the day.

On Monday, Rolla, Al Nabaa, Butina, Makhmour were without power between 9.30am and 4pm. Power failures have plagued the emirate for more than a month, and for some residents, they represented the last straw. Ahmed Ibrahim, an owner of the Dirham Real Estate agency in Al Nabaa, said five clients refused to renew their tenancy contracts, saying they were looking for a house where electricity was guaranteed.

"The problem is this electricity issue has been miscommunicated," he said. "Residents don't know who is responsible and who is not. They keep on coming to our offices quarrelling with us, but what can I do?" Ayman al Sharqawi said he was planning to leave Sharjah for Dubai if he could find a house with power within his budget. "I have already asked my wife to start checking the classifieds and make some calls," he said. "My tenancy contract is due next month and I don't think I would renew it with these power problems."

Mr al Sharqawi said he had been in Sharjah for 27 years but had never witnessed problems such as these, even in the old days when development was slow. "If they can't meet the power demand now, would they be able to meet it in future with the rapid development under way?" he asked. Abdul Aziz Baluk, who lives in a Sharjah industrial area, said he was considering moving to Ajman if the electricity problem was not resolved.

Mr Baluk works in Dubai, and had left a Dubai apartment two years back because of the skyrocketing rents there. "I am not certain how I will be driving from Ajman to work. It's quite a long route, and daily, but it's better than staying in a non-air-conditioned house," he said. Many residents say they understand the Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (SEWA) has a power supply problem but are unhappy with the way the crisis has been handled.

"They should at least make a clear schedule and inform the public of the timings they would have electricity and when not." "Power just goes off abruptly and disrupts all our daily programmes," said another, Ausi al Baghdad. Mr Baghdad said his six-year-old daughter came home from school and had to climb the stairs up to the 15th floor. Her mother, who is seven months pregnant, was already breathing hard after coming down the stairs to collect her.

They stayed in the building reception for about an hour and started to climb back up, sitting for about 10 minutes to rest every after three floors. Another concern for residents is the lack of people to take calls at SEWA emergency numbers. A SEWA official said the emergency line was jammed with calls whenever there was an outage and the staff there could only take so many. Mansour al Mashaari, a resident of another industrial area, complained the situation was unfair since he paid his electricity bills on time.

"There are days when the power goes in the middle of the night and returns after hours and there are days when the power goes continuously for days; we don't know what to expect each day," he said. On Monday, officials at the Dubai Islamic Bank branch in Al Nabaa announced that power had gone off and asked about 50 people waiting for services to leave. Several clients had been waiting for about an hour.

Rashid Bakkar said it was the second time in less than a month he failed to make his telebanking transfer because of the power crisis at the branch. "Every time I come to transfer some money to my wife's account in Egypt the power in this bank stays for only a few minutes and it goes. "Last week I didn't send and this time I have to find a taxi and go to King Faisal main branch because I can't keep postponing."

Traffic lights were not functioning Monday and yesterday in Industrial Area 4 and traffic was moving at a snail's pace in the morning. Sharjah Police had to intervene on some intersections and close some roads with barricades. They advised motorists to use alternative routes. [e-mail]