Monday, January 28, 2008

The blame for load shedding

An excellent piece from polity.org.za. The article beautifully covers why we are where we are.

Taken a few steps further, it is the same old story: policy fails, markets do not have the space to respond to correct signals on resource scarcity, prices do not have the time to adjust gradually, this is followed by an abrupt shock to supply, expensive knee-jerk reactions follow, some heads roll (sometimes), and new sources of supply are bulldozed through any regulatory system there may be to mitigate the impacts. Next step: blame the EIA for delaying the roll-out of new power stations (sorry that has already happened). Next step: adjust environmental policies - preserving the environment is bad for growth. Stop environmental issues while we are back to basics. Just repeat the electricity-development link a few times. Show pictures of people reading at candle light.
Who can blame them?

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