01 June 2007

Yes it's my fault!

Here is my issue these days: I need my electricity. I need it so I don't melt during the day. I need it so I can get on the internet and blog. I need it so I don't read books in candle light. Unforunately, I haven't been getting much electricity since I got back to Bahrain. In fact, now I'm being told by the Minister of Electricity that it's my fault! Or at least, I am 90% of the problem!

Under the influence of the heat, I actually started to believe that it's my fault. In fact, since the miracle of electricity finally came back to our house (after two days of lighting candles, harrassing the ministry, and invoking souls of ancestors), I have been thinking of how it is my, LuLu's, own fault that our government can't provide us with electricity. Here is what I came up with so far:

1. It is I who did not plan the development or infrastructure of Bahrain.

2. It is I who is not building electrical substations because the "planning" authority in Bahrain did not plan for them as it was giving building permits (candle model).

3. It is I who is still unable to negotiate a gas deal with Qatar or Iran.

4. It is I who is giving permits to commercial establishments and multi-storey buildings in previously-designated residential areas such as Budaya, Juffair, and Jid-Ali, making it impossible for their substations to handle the additional burden.

5. It is I who made the decision to over-light the streets of Bahrain like a christmas tree, so the dark houses around it have something bright to look at.

6. It is I who is over-using electricity by keeping the lights ON in all government buildings, year-round, day and night.

7. It is I who is conspiring against the Minister of Electricity, by putting him in a ministry he has no idea what to do with, just to make him look bad.

11 comments:

Vampire D said...

It’s our fault …we bought the AirConiditons’s without checking first with the Government!!!!

Anonymous said...

En lam tasta7i faf3al ma tashtahi :((

Anonymous said...

The main reasons the transmission network in Bahrain are a mess are because of:
A. A lack of capacity building in terms of 66Kv and 11Kv Substations.
B. A lack of coordination between ministries and the extremely long lag it takes from drawing up the plans to the funding, and building and commissioning of the station.(Civil service stupidity, and this is why MEW should become an authority that is independent instead of a ministry)
C. The biggest reasons is people who in the past and I repeat in the past unless now ofcourse the idiot new Minister of Municipalities outdoes them - played around with zoning regulations so badly, that all the changes and inreases in densities -were not consulted properly with other ministries, therefore, there was a major problem in getting the service to the particular plots. The MEW can't believe another government agency so who else do they have blame!?! .. So when Juffair, and Seef went from 2 storey residential to multi-story mixed used developments there was a major strain on the networks so in many cases they had to rip out and add more capacity. The road corridors in Bahrain are too narrow, and there isn't land available because of bad planning. The acquisition law is not even functioning now so this isn't going to be fixed quickly. It all goes down to basics, you can't suddenly add density without widening roads for traffic and service oriented things (sewage, electricity, water, gas, telecom, etc... district cooling) hopefully this new planning body if everything goes through will help prevent this problem from escalating, and we can get to the stage where we privitize the transmission of eletricity.

Anonymous said...

believe = blame sorry!!

Anonymous said...

Can you believe that in the University, there has been NO water for at least 5 days now?! So, get this: students are there as early as 7-30 or 8am and many stay until 4pm, but none can use the toilets or the sinks because there is no running water! Someone apparently took a shit on the stairs (indoors) a few days ago ... as a last resort!

This has become a joke. But I'm not really laughing.

LuLu said...

Esra'a this is a sad, sad situation! I heard of the university and other areas without water but it seems even worse than I thought..

Anonymous thanks for putting things into perspective. I could not have said it better.

It wouldn't be fair to blame the Ministry of Electricity & Water alone, of course, since it is just trying to manage the planning disaster that we find ourselves in (as you mentioned, mainly in zoning and planning substations). It's really a bigger problem in Bahrain, as each ministry is operating in a universe of its own. This minister, though, is a classic. Since thte 1970s and Bahrain has been seeing consistent electricity disruptions and suffering from the poor quality of infrastructure. Only today that a minister has the nerves to actually blame us for this collosal government failure.

SILVER said...

LuLu,

you broke my heart, you are welcomed to stay at our house when ever your electricity cuts off.:PPP
I guess we are one of the lucky ones. My theory is that we share a line wit a Hamoor !!

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