Prime Minister Najib Mikati met with the caretaker Minister of Energy and Water, Walid Fayyad, with the participation of the Director-General of Electricité du Liban, Kamal Hayek, and the Director-General of Oil, Aurour Feghali.
Fayyad made a statement after the meeting, in which he said: “We offered the necessity of feeding the Electricity of Lebanon network in order to maintain the continuity of the public utility, and regarding the fuel material in the Zouk laboratories, a media statement was issued by Electricité du Liban saying that this fuel conforms to the specifications according to the results of the tests conducted in Lebanon. And abroad, and there are documents confirming this, and this fuel is not harmful at the environmental and health level, and it is a necessity in order to run the public utility.We also talked about the importance of operating the taste plant and the black smoke emitted from it when it is emitted, knowing that we prefer other solutions, but in As long as there is no other type of fuel, this solution is better than not giving electricity to public utilities, pending the re-work to replace Iraqi fuel.”
He added: “As for the Iranian gift, Mikati reiterated that it is not conditional, and we informed him of the delegation of the Technical Committee, which will visit Iran to see the specifications of the fuel we need and the quantities that will be available to us, and we also informed him of what we are doing in terms of searching for other sources of fuel. In this context, I made contact with the Kuwaiti Minister of Oil, especially since Kuwait always stands by Lebanon and is with all the Lebanese without discrimination, and we will follow up on this issue. We are also in contact with the brotherly State of Algeria to restore the possibility of reviving the extraction of fuel from there.”
He continued: “We also talked about the contract with the World Bank and the import of gas from Egypt and electricity from Jordan, and Mikati reiterated that, according to the contacts he is making, the World Bank is still very interested in this issue and will not abandon it, and the Bank has two conditions to enter the negotiation stage with Lebanon.” They are: an increase in the tariff and the initiation of the procedures for appointing the regulatory body.
He said: “His country has made progress in the matter of tariffs, as the Board of Directors of Electricité du Liban decided to increase the tariff, and the decision was approved by the Ministry of Energy, and it was transferred to the Ministry of Finance for approval and approval, and I felt from the President’s State that the Minister of Finance is about to approve the The issue. When the nutrition is increased, electricity will be provided to citizens at a cheaper price, about half the price of private generators, and I will hold a meeting with the World Bank soon to follow up and put it in the context of developments related to this file.
In response to a question about the date of the start of the electric supply, he replied: “We must be serious about our work, and we need to meet the other parties that will help us, and as you have heard, Iran has extended a helping hand to us, and we want the existing parties to accept that we contract with them.” Agreements to draw fuel with delayed payment terms, so that through the increase in feeding we can collect the tariff revenues to pay for the fuel, and this is a matter that takes time. This must be accepted even without guarantees, because we have no guarantees to give it.”
And about the existence of internal political obstacles that impede the approval of the Iranian gift, he said: “We have not seen obstacles so far.”
He pointed out that the technical delegation that will visit Iran will include representatives from the Ministry of Energy and Electricité du Liban.
And about the possibility of releasing him as a promise to the Lebanese to increase nutrition, especially since there are areas where the current is cut off for days, he said: “I feel with the Lebanese, and my family and I suffer from the same problem. What will improve the situation. The exchange with Iraq is subject to the fuel that is produced in it, and it is assumed that when they are able to export the required quality that we will be able to improve nutrition, and God willing, this will be achieved in the next two months.”
Regarding the Minister of Environment’s statement about the quality of fuel in the Zouk factory, he said: “I will talk to the Minister of Environment about the matter, but grade B fuel is better than grade A in terms of public health and the environment, and it conforms to the specifications according to all the tests conducted by external parties, including.” .veritas
On the import of electricity from Jordan and Egypt, he said: “The World Bank has revived the meetings with us to follow up on work on the tariff and regulatory authority issues. I briefed them on the progress of work in this regard. As for the tariff, the decision is ready and requires approval from the Minister of Finance, and an exceptional decision from the presidents of the republic and the government. As for the regulatory body, I now have a vision of its organizational structure in order to start launching the mechanism of soliciting applications.
President Mikati received the head of the economic bodies, former Minister Mohamed Choucair, and during the meeting, they discussed the economic and social conditions.