CAIRO - The crisis in el-Dabaa, on the Mediterranean, is hindering the creation of the new Egypt. The problems started when many Egyptians demanded that the State's proposed nuclear power plant should be built somewhere else, not in Dabaa, as, if it were built in this city in the northwest of the country, they would lose the land they own there. According to energy experts and politicians, this project is vital for building Egypt's future. In fact, the Dabaa nuclear power project was meant to have been launched three decades ago. Youssri Abu Shadi, a nuclear energy expert, stresses that, 30 years ago, 60 square kilometres of land were set aside in el-Dabaa for building the plant on. By 2003, 400 families had been moved out of el-Dabaa and rehoused elsewhere, while nuclear experts from France, the US and Switzerland, in collaboration with International Atomic Energy Agency, conducted research into the site. They concluded that Dabaa was the best and safest location in Egypt to set up a nuclear power station. Abu Shadi says that the project was put on hold by the toppled president, under pressure from foreign countries, especially Israel and the US. A parliamentarian also contributed to the freezing of the project, because he had created a tourist village near el-Dabaa. “A decision to urgently relaunch the nuclear reactor should be taken during the first sessions of the new Egyptian Parliament, while el-Dabaa citizens who will lose land must be compensated, or the area allocated for the project reduced,” Abu Shadi argues. Potential presidential candidate Ayman Nour told Al-Gomhuria newspaper that the Dabaa crisis is nothing new. “But the problem has been exacerbated by the corruption in the toppled regime and self-interested businessmen. I have good relations with the popular leaders of el-Dabaa and have appealed to them to stop the violent protests there,” he said. Saad Eddin Ibrahim, head of Ibn Khaldoun for Development Centre, notes that, since the outbreak of the January 25 revolution, many protests in Egypt have been violent. “Whether the people's demands are legitimate or not, they shouldn't resort to violence and destroying State institutions to solve their problems. “The citizens of el-Dabaa should delegate representatives to negotiate with officials to reach a common understanding, in the interests of both the State and the citizens,” he says. Thinker Gamal Assad stresses that what has been happening in el-Dabaa is very serious. “Those responsible for this should be punished. They have destroyed machinery and tools costing millions of Egyptian pounds. When people demand their rights, they should do so peacefully; they shouldn't destroy vital institutions,” he stresses. Professor of Economy Hamdi Abdel-Azeem agrees that there is an urgent need to expedite the establishment of a nuclear reactor for peaceful purposes in this country.
