Jumblat Rejects Electricity Dispute as Hizbullah, Amal Mediate to Bridge Differences

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has reiterated that his insistence to form a technical committee to oversee the spending of $1.2 billion on an electricity project has no political motive.

In remarks to As Safir daily published Tuesday, Jumblat said: “The electricity issue is not at all political. It is purely a technical and legal issue.”

Jumblat and ministers loyal to him have expressed reservations on a draft law proposed by Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun calling for the allocation of $1.2 billion to Energy Minister Jebran Bassil to generate 700 Megawatts of electricity.

They have called for the formation of the committee to oversee along with Bassil the spending on the four-stage electricity project. But the ministers loyal to Aoun, including Bassil, have rejected such a proposal.

“From the start, I didn’t interfere in the political debate initiated by some,” Jumblat said, accusing the FPM of making “strange interpretations” of the PSP chief’s stance.

“I don’t want to bicker with anyone,” he added.

His comments to As Safir came after a meeting he held with the advisor of the Hizbullah leader, Hussein Khalil, and the Speaker’s political assistant Minister Ali Hassan Khalil.

Hizbullah official Wafiq Safa and Social Affairs Minister Wael Abou Faour, who is loyal to Jumblat, also attended the talks that were held at Jumblat’s residence in Clemenceau on Monday.

The sources of the conferees told As Safir that the delegation that visited Jumblat described the meeting as “serious, positive, friendly and productive.”

Abou Faour adopted the same point of view of the PSP chief, telling An Nahar newspaper that his party does not have any political motive behind its insistence to form a technical committee.

“New suggestions have been made,” he said, adding they would help them overcome several controversial issues. The minister refused to give more details.

Informed sources told An Nahar, however, that the new mediation launched by Speaker Nabih Berri and Hizbullah has a political aspect in the efforts to bridge differences between the cabinet members and preserve the government cohesion.