THE increasing demand from brick factories in different governorates is to blame for the sharp decline in the household supply of gas cylinders, local observers have said. Officials in the butane-gas supply companies have come up with this excuse to fend off doubts about their integrity. Apparently, the supervisors of these outlets, especially in Giza, have given in to the financial temptations from the owners of brick factories desperate to meet the increasing demand for their products. They came up with a corrupt deal, according to which the domestic supply of butane gas was reduced, in order to illegally help slake the brick factories' raging 'thirst' for this commodity, the observers said. The nation used to consume 770 million gas cylinders per annum, but that has fallen by 308 million cylinders, because many homes now have piped gas. The shortage of gas cylinders means that frustrated housewives now have to pay LE20 (about $3.50) for a cylinder, which used to cost no more than LE6 or LE7 on the black market, although the official price is fixed at only LE3.50. However, emergency measures swiftly announced by the Oil Ministry to soothe angry families, have led to an official increase of LE1.50 in the price of a gas cylinder. In a desperate attempt to plug the gap, the Ministry increased the supply of gas cylinders by 30 per cent to 38 million cylinders per month. The Ministry's officials also confirm that more than 9 million homes will be connected to the gas network. Appreciating the sufferings of families, Oil Minister Sameh Fahmi has ordered the gas-producing factories to work round the clock to contain the situation. Recent reports suggest that the crisis has already declined remarkably, ever since the Ministry went into action. The long queues of very angry consumers standing outside the gas outlets are growing shorter. What is also helping is the fact that oil officials, in collaboration with Supply Police and representatives from the Ministry of Social Solidarity, are keeping a careful watch on the distribution of gas cylinders in outlets in densely populated areas in the big cities, to stop any cylinders ending up on the black market. One very relieved housewife living in Imbaba, Giza, declares that her nightmare is over. Dumping a gas cylinder into the boot of a cab, she says: “At last I've bought a cylinder for LE4. I had to pay a black market vendor LE40 for the previous one.” The housewife, named Huda Ibrahim, recalls how, until things improved, she and many other women like her had to queue 'like beggars', in order to obtain a gas cylinder. “The problem was that demand outstripped supply,” she observes, not denying the suggestions that officials in the gas outlets were involved in corrupt deals with black marketeers, who smuggled the cylinders to the brick factories.
