Govt. Refers Controversial Electricity File to Bidding Administration
The Council of Ministers decided during a session in Baabda on Wednesday to refer the thorny file of renting power generation ships to the public bidding administration.
“I'm committed to providing electricity to the Lebanese and the State with the lowest cost possible, and should we get an unsatisfactory bidding outcome in this regard, we will not submit it to Cabinet,” Energy Minister Cesar Abi Khalil said during the session.
According to reports, Abi Khalil had sent a memo to Cabinet, detailing what has been accomplished so far in the call for tenders and suggesting that the Council of Ministers choose one of two options: putting the file in the hands of a ministerial panel or referring it to the bidding administration for it to unseal the financial offers.
“Should the ships get no approval later, yes, there will be an electricity crisis this summer,” Abi Khalil warned in remarks to MTV after the session.
Public Works and Transport Minister Youssef Fenianos of Marada Movement and Industry Minister Hussein al-Hajj Hassan of Hizbullah had engaged in an indirect debate over the file prior to the session.
“We are against the electricity plan and yet we are coming here to hear a lecture in transparency. I will support any stance Hizbullah takes and we will see how much it will continue to appease (Abi Khalil's Free Patrotic Movement) against its own stances,” Fenianos said.
Hajj Hassan hit back saying, “We take our stances objectively and according to our beliefs and principles.”
President Michel Aoun warned at the beginning of the session that “time is running out regarding the electricity file and we must mull the short-term and long-term solutions.”
“What is important is to find solutions that are in the interest of citizens,” Aoun stressed.
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