Joint Parliamentary Committees Debate Electricity Draft Law

The joint parliamentary committees discussed on Thursday the draft law on the electricity project that was referred to parliament following a cabinet approval last week.

The draft law includes only two articles. The first allows the government to begin the implementation of the project before receiving the funds from the state budget and the second calls for the implementation of the law upon its publication in the official gazette.

The draft law doesn’t include any explanation on the phases of the project’s implementation and the areas where new power plants would be based to generate 700 Megawatts of electricity.

Head of the parliamentary public works, transportation, energy and water committee MP Mohammed Qabbani expressed regret at the draft law, lamenting that it doesn’t include any plan.

“All what the government did was that it gave the (energy) minister the spending he is seeking rather than giving the electricity sector the priority because the minister is only interested in making commitments with companies to spend the funds,” he told An Nahar daily.

Media reports said MPs Ali Ammar and Ahmed Fatfat engaged in a verbal dispute at the meeting which was later adjourned to Monday 12:00 pm.

The newspaper had expected the meeting to witness verbal clashes over Qabbani’s criticism of the draft law. “We are still calling for a clear plan on the electricity sector,” he said, adding that he intends to bring up the issue during the meeting.