Miqati, FPM Welcome Request by LF to Probe Leasing of Power Vessels

Prime Minister Najib Miqati and Change and Reform bloc MP Ibrahim Kanaan welcomed a request submitted by Lebanese Forces lawmaker George Adwan at the parliament to form an investigation committee concerning the leasing of power-generating vessels, media reports said on Tuesday.

“The formation of the committee would make the issue more transparent,” Miqati told As Safir newspaper.

Asked if the investigation is to question the performance of Energy Minister Jebran Bassil, Miqati said: “On the contrary” no one has reservations on his work.

Head of the Finance and Budget Parliamentary Committee Kanaan, who is part of Free Patriotic Movement chief Michel Aoun’s bloc, said that the request is odd as the contract with the company that won the tender hasn’t been signed yet.

Sources close to Miqati said that the leasing of the power-generating vessels is at the negotiations levels.

The cabinet agreed in April to lease two Turkish power-generating vessels after slashing the costs by nine percent in order to rehabilitate Jiyyeh and Zouk power plants and build one or two new ones to resolve Lebanon’s lingering electricity crisis.

“We are still negotiating the administrative, legal, and technical details, trying to maintain the rights of citizens and preserve the treasury of the state,” the sources said.

Speaker Nabih Berri’s sources told al-Akhbar newspaper that Adwan’s request falls within his constitutional rights.

“It is their right. The Parliament's Bureau Committee will discuss the request,” the sources said.

The two Turkish ships will have a capacity of 270 megawatts.

The Turkish Company Karadeniz will send the first vessel to Lebanon by the end of July while the second ship will be dispatched a few weeks later.