A group of young Egyptians, mostly college graduates, have accused the government of destroying their agricultural investments in the Eastern Desert by cutting water supply.
According to press reports, the government launched the pilot project to coax fresh university graduates into starting small-sized agricultural ventures on newly reclaimed desert lands. The project, dubbed the "Sugar beat,” is being implemented in a cluster of villages in the midst of the desert.
”But things are not so sweet in Village 29, where a looming disaster threatens to befall young investors and put them behind bars,” said the Egyptian Gazette, quoting an opposition paper, Al Wafd.
Convinced to move to this forbidding landscape by the government's rosy promises, young investors took loans from commercial banks in order to buy heavy agricultural equipment, seeds and fertilizers to till the land.
Just as the crops, which mainly consist of vegetables, began to grow, the government doomed the projects by unjustifiably cutting off water to the village.
“Consequently, all crops died. Bankers' memories of loans, however, did not.”
Banks began chasing the young investors for defaulting on their loans, threatening court action that could end the youth in prison. Officials have turned deaf ears to the young investors, who have asked for the debts to be rescheduled until their projects have had an opportunity to succeed.
Both Al Wafd and the Gazette did not cite the government’s account of the story – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
