KUWAIT: For the past week, several buildings in the Hasawi area of Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh have been plunged into darkness by planned power cuts which disconnect the AC and electricity utilities at scheduled times . Malik, a resident of Block 2, Street 153 said the power cuts began last Thursday and have continued to date.

Another local resident insisted, however, the power cuts went back even further, beginning at the end of June. Malik's neighbors were forced to find another accommodation in Salmiya to spare their kids from the scorching heat. "I cannot sleep well," started Malik, explaining, "The problem is I work at night and sleep until mid-afternoon. So it's a burning hell, terrible conditions, and it's been going on for five days now.

Ironically, next to Malik's building there is a flat that is excluded from the power cuts. Another two buildings close to Malik's flat have also been part of the scheduled blackouts, however. "I don't know why it's happening only to us [referring to his building]," he protested.

Another unhappy resident, who introduced himself as Fervez, had a similar story: "We informed the owner already and they told us to wait until the power is restored. Of course, we cannot do anything except wait for nothing." He continued, "Sometimes the power will come only for ten, fifteen minutes, then it will be cut off again. The power comes and goes and I don't know why.

Like others in the area, Fervez pointed out that the frequent power outages are a seasonal certainty, taking place every summer. "The ministry personnel said the power cuts are connected to [electrical] overloads," said Fervez. "I don't really understand what it's all about." He voiced suspicion, however, that the ministry's indifference to power cuts in Hasawi is related to the residents' nationality.

What I know is that because the majority of the residents here are Bangladeshi, they don't really care about us," he said, appealing to Kuwait's government to do something about their situation. "Give me some peace while asleep," he pleaded. "I also want to rest after 12 hours of work, just like all of you, but how can I do that when its exceedingly hot?!

In Block 1, according to some residents, the scheduled power cuts are just something they've had to adjust to. "The power cut happens almost every day from 11 pm-5 am. It started in the last week of June. At first I struggled to fall asleep, but now I have got used to this condition; so my adjustment was tied to falling asleep before the air-conditioning went dead... regardless I'd lay wide awake in the middle of the night sweating," Ahmed quipped.

Throughout Malik's apartment block there are similar stories, not just of power cuts but of water shortages. "We have been experiencing this water shortage for some time now," said one resident. "They used to fill our tanks with water, but it's too little for all of us in this building so almost every day, we experience water shortages. Some of us would go to work without having a shower.

Demand for electricity and water, vital and basic human necessities, has been rising since the beginning of summer. Having identified the problem of shortages, the government has taken proactive measures to change the current supply system. According to experts, the level of demand in Kuwait is growing at approximately seven to ten percent per year. By 2025, the national peak load demand is expected to reach 25,000MW per year.

In March 2011, Kuwait inaugurated the first phase of the Sabbiya power plant, set to be Kuwait's largest such facility. The plant's six gas turbine generators are expected to produce nearly 1,400MW of power adding nearly 10 percent of additional power to the existing network and helping the country meet peak demand for electricity during the hot summer months. The state-owned plant is expected to enter a combined-cycle operation by 2012, with a total output exceeding more than 2,000MW.

Former Minister of Electricity and Water Dr Bader Al-Shuraiaan was quoted by the local press in March as saying that the "programmed power cuts" in Kuwait would finally end after the inauguration of the first stage of the Al-Sabiya power plant. But the residents of Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh know better than to believe that. - Kuwait Times