The Greater Cairo Water Company (GCWC) said the water supply will remain off for longer than expected in districts of Fifth Settlement in New Cairo city, citing obstacles in fixing and repairing the water pipe that burst on Saturday.
In a statement on Sunday, GCWC said work complete repairs is continuing at a fast pace and the water should be back on as soon as possible.
The company said it is working to provide water to the affected areas using mobile tanks of drinking water, which are on call at the hotline 125 from landlines.
The spokesman for GCWC, Mohei al-Serafy, said in statements to al-Masry al-Youm that a new line is being operated to supply New Cairo until repairs are completed. He pointed out that some water lines are operational for the first time since the pipe burst on Saturday and some temporary transfers have been made to reduce how long the water supply is cut off.
Residents in the area expressed their dissatisfaction with the lack of water for over 48 hours; many said they tried to contact the hotline several times, but to no avail.
Ayman Jad, a resident of the area, said the water had been cut off since Friday evening, except for an hour on Saturday evening — but there was a problem with law water pressure. He refuted the GCWC's statement on providing water tank trucks, explaining that he searched for several hours and found none.
Alaa Waly, head of the Housing Committee in the Parliament, said most water networks in Egypt have not been maintained for almost 70 years, and even some new cities have crises in their networks that need to be revisited and maintained to ensure these are sound.
He added, in remarks to parliamentary reporters, that the committee allocated meetings on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the problem, in accordance with requests for briefing by a number of MPs, to replace and renew drinking water pipes in Helwan which haven't been maintained for 70 years.
