RIYADH, 25 August 2006 — The Saudi Electricity Company’s decision to cut electricity power for four hours a day for the next two weeks has caused a major crisis among factories located in the second and third industrial area of Riyadh with many factories claiming they are suffering mammoth financial losses because of the move, reported the Al-Watan newspaper.
Factory owners in Riyadh claim they are suffering huge financial losses reaching millions of riyals, as their production has been halved because of the electricity cuts. Samir Al-Fayez, a factory owner, said, “Factories in the second and third industrial areas are losing millions of riyals. About 50 percent of factory production has come to a halt.”
Al-Fayez described the decision as totally unacceptable. “The Saudi Electricity Company should have notified factory owners many weeks before so as to give us time to take appropriate action and to prepare,” he said.
Factory owners say the decision has come at a time when production is at its peak in the summer.
