Officials Exert Efforts to Resolve Electricity Crisis
President Michel Suleiman and Ministers loyal to Hizbullah and AMAL have sought to mediate in an attempt to resolve the dispute between Prime Minister Najib Miqati and Energy Minister Jebran Bassil on the electricity crisis, al-Liwaa newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Suleiman is expected to hold meetings on Tuesday with several ministers in order to seek consensus concerning the matter.
Meanwhile, Bassil will hold a press conference after the Change and Reform bloc meeting led by MP Michel Aoun to clarify his position.
Al-Liwaa reported if the cabinet session scheduled to be held at the Baabda Palace on Wednesday witnessed a heated debate and sharp rift between ministers over the electricity crisis, Bassil might propose a vote, whereby each side would then state it’s point of view.
On Monday, extensive contacts were held between PM Miqati and Finance Minister Mohammed al-Safadi, who is loyal to the premier, but has voiced his support to Bassil’s approach to the electricity crisis.
Miqati also held talks with Bassil, who is loyal to Aoun.
However, Bassil said that the meeting didn’t tackle the electricity crisis.
The premier argues in a report that the establishment of a power plant takes a year and would cost maximum 480 million dollars for at least a 25-year service, while Energy Minister Bassil’s proposal suggests that the two companies that have won tenders, a Turkish and an American company, would provide power through ships and would cost the state around $1 billion for a period of five years without the expenses of the fuel oil.
As Safir newspaper reported that Miqati’s proposal was drafted from an Iranian offer to help provide Lebanon with electricity that was proposed before to PM Saad Hariri in 2010, however, it never saw light.
The daily said that Iran offered to provide Lebanon with 1,200 megawatts, as the country’s actual needs exceeds 2,300 megawatts but the current power plants’ maximum capacity is less than 1,500 megawatts.
Iran, according to the report, offered to build two additional power plants and supply Lebanon with electricity through a network that passes through Iraq and Syria, in addition to the rehabilitation of the existing network in Lebanon.
The sum of the energy would then become 1,200 megawatts, and would cost the treasury around $1 billion.
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