Water and Energy Minister Uzi Landau said Monday that even if the supply of natural gas from Egypt had continued regularly the "electricity drought" was unavoidable because plans to set up new power stations and develop alternative energy sources had been stalled. Landau compared the situation to the delays in setting up water desalination plants. "Whoever can delay the plans delays them and that's how we ended up with the electricity drought, the same way we ended up with the water drought," said Landau Landau spoke in a hearing in the Knesset's Internal Affairs and Environment Committee regarding the development of alternative energy sources. He remarked that the same "Intra-Jewish wars" that exacerbated the electricity drought also plague the procedures to develop future alternative energy sources. Landau added that switching from gas to diesel and fuel oil has diminished the production capacity of power plants. In reply to a question from MK Nitzan Horowitz, (Meretz) Landau said that the Reading power station in Tel Aviv is currently still powered by natural gas but this will continue "within the limits of current supply and we'll switch Reading to Mazut only as a last resort." This, he says, will delay the expected rise in air pollution over the densely populated Gush Dan area. Landau did not name names but stated that the Finance Ministry has led a wave of objections to plans his office presented regarding switching to solar energy, creating electricity from wind turbines and harnessing organic waste. "The plans included measurable production quotas but the Finance Ministry said the costs were too high and there was no use in setting quotas, so the implementation of the plans has been delayed." Among the factors stalling the plans and raising the costs, Landau pointed the finger at local authorities who intended to impose a property tax on solar installations which would be set up on rooftops of residential or public buildings. Other stalling factors were The Israel Land Administration's proposal to raise the land lease tax on solar farms by 100,000 NIS a year per Dunam. The Ministry of Defense's objection to setting up wind turbines in the Golan Heights and the development limitations that the Agriculture Ministry wants to impose on allocating land for energy production are also stalling the process, says Landau. "The cabinet offices and the authorities who are putting spokes in our wheels should take the time to think if their own good is more important then the public good." Said Landau. "It's time for all systems to work together to advance the development plans in the ministers' committee for renewable energy, because if we don't act today we'll pay the price in about four-five years" The committee's chairman MK Amnon Cohen (Shas) Offered the committee's assistance in dissolving the objections which are stalling the development. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter