Hariri Chairs 'Very, Very Positive' Meeting on Electricity

Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Monday presided over a meeting for a ministerial panel tasked with studying a plan to solve the country's chronic electricity problem.

The meeting was attended by Deputy PM Ghassan Hasbani, the ministers Ali Hassan Khalil, Jamal al-Jarrah, Akram Shehayyeb, Mohammed Fneish, Youssef Fenianos, Camille Abu Suleiman, Nada al-Bustani and Adel Afiouni, Cabinet secretary-general Mahmoud Makkiyeh, World Bank representatives and a number of advisers.

“I want to reassure you that the atmosphere was very, very positive in this session and a huge progress has been made in agreeing in principle on some key points in the plan and in the electricity policy,” Information Minister Jamal al-Jarrah said after the meeting.

“A session will be held tomorrow between 4:00 and 6:00 pm to complete the discussion of these points, with the same positivity and spirit that engulfed today's meeting,” Jarrah added.

“Tomorrow we will finalize them and therefore we would go to Cabinet on Thursday with an agreement on the electricity plan's essential and key points,” the minister went on to say.

Asked whether the Lebanese Forces has submitted its own study on the file, Jarrah said the study was presented at the end of the session and that it would be examined overnight and discussed on Tuesday.

OTV meanwhile reported that the LF has "backed down from a number of its reservations after Energcy Minister Nada Bustani explained the electricity plan."

"The LF held onto the demand of putting an end to technical electricity wastage before agreeing a contract with any side," OTV added.

"In tomorrow's session, the ministerial panel will discuss which authority will carry out the tendering process after Bustani said her team is open to all options," the TV network said.