Not your neighborhood electricity provider, but private sector paying for power plants:
Beirut plans to privatise the production of 1,000MW of power at Deir Amar on the coast north of Tripoli, after parliamentary elections on 7 June.
The government is working on plans to privatise an existing plant of 565MW and develop a new, $500m plant to supply an additional 435MW.
Could this be the answer to our power problems? This is Lebanon, of course not. Nothings that easy.
Lebanon already has a private utility company, Electricite de Zahle (EDZ), which when founded back in the 1920s had the right to produce and distribute electricity. But that changed in the 60s and the company is no longer allowed to produce power, only distribute. Naturally, that has ticked EDZ off. Comparing EDZ to EDL (Electricite du Liban), EDZ collects 99% of all power bills and can provide (if allowed to) uninterrupted power supply to Zahle and surrounding areas.
But hey, why ruin a highly sectraian, inefficient monopoly (read EDL) just for 24 hours of uninterrupted electricity? Who needs reliability when you have highway robbery?
I know you dont like to politicize your posts, but its only fair to mention who’s been controlling EDL and the whole electricity file for the past 20 years – Nabeeh Berri.
Eitherway, this is a positive move by the Government, but a lot more is needed. Hopefully, the EDL monopoly will be broken soon.
I completely agree – no disagreements there.