Magdy Tawfiq, head of the Egyptian Company for Natural Gas (GASCO), said repairs on the Sinai Peninsula gas pipeline that was recently bombed are to be completed soon. GASCO is responsible for the management and operation of the gas pipeline across the Sinai Peninsula. The pipeline stretches to a length of more than 190 kilometers across the Sinai Peninsula. Tawfiq said fully protecting it is very difficult. Tawfiq said GASCO was waiting for insurance claims to come through, but the procedures take a long time, and repairs progressed as quickly in the past. Tawfiq said the company is committed to pay compensation to farmers whose crops were damaged in the bombings. GASCO has awarded compensation of up to 325,000 EGP (U.S. $55,000) to the owners of olive groves affected by the bombing last year. According to sources, the cost of repairing the first bombing, which occurred in the wake of the January 25 Revolution, was 28 million EGP (U.S. $4.7 million).
