The directorates affiliated with the Ministry of Supply and Social Affairs have sought the help of popular committees and the military police in securing the transportation of butane cylinders. The role of the police in the crisis is diminishing, according to sources within Ministry of Supply and Social Affairs.
A sit-in in Botagasco, a company responsible for transporting cylinders, escalated the crisis. The ministry used private trucks to transport cylinders to outlets.
Official sources within the ministry said the areas affected by the sit-in are Ain al-Seera in Giza and Sayeda Zeinab and Nasr City in Cairo.
Minister of Supply and Social Affairs Gouda Abdel Khaleq held a meeting Tuesday with the ministry's officials after he was criticized by members of Parliament on Monday for the ministry's handling of the crisis.
Sources said Khaleq demanded that officials intensify inspections at butane cylinder depots and enforce the ministerial decree of referring violators for investigation.
Security bodies have already stepped up surveillance of fuel depots. An estimated 3,700 butane cylinders and 70,650 liters of diesel have been seized before being sold in the black market. The governorates of North Sinai, Minya, Beni Suef and Beheira have all seen confiscations of smuggled fuel.
About a fifth of Egypt's population of 80 million people lives on US$2 a day. Egypt subsidizes fuel so that the lowest grade fuel, 80 Octane, is sold for just LE1 (around 17 US cents) a liter, well below its market value.
The budget set for energy subsidies by the new government amounts to LE95 billion. However, some demand that energy subsidies be cut, especially amid allegations that corporations and the wealthy are the primary beneficiaries.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
