Mustaqbal Deems Bassil’s Remarks on Negotiations on Leasing Power-Generating Ships as a Scandal

The Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc condemned on Tuesday the government’s ongoing practices, which it said have completely disregarded the people’s interests, most notably in the electricity file.

It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “It’s unfortunate that after all debate over this issue, Energy Minister Jebran Bassil reached the conclusion that an agreement on facts and figures is needed in order to base negotiations on leasing power-generating ships.”

“Such statements are a scandal and a sign that the government has been dealing lightly with issues of public concern,” it stressed.

“The minister’s remarks are also a sign of a lack of transparency in tackling such matters whereby personal and party interests take precedence over issues of the state,” it continued.

“Given this chaos, the bloc would like to remind the public of the regulations and measures that need to be respected in the electricity sector,” it said.

The Mustaqbal bloc explained that establishing the electricity regulatory authority is the first step to this end.

It also called for the reestablishment of the Electricite du Liban administrative board.

“This will then lead to the approval of a clear strategy on the country’s electricity policy that would reach long-term solutions to Lebanon’s problems in this field,” added the statement.

Moreover, it demanded that legal standards be adopted in administering the electricity sector.

Bassil had stressed on Monday the need to “unify facts and figures” regarding the negotiations with companies over leasing power-generating vessels.

He said: “We have placed the scientific and logical rules upon which negotiations will be based.”

He made his remarks after a meeting of the ministerial committee tasked with following up the leasing of the power-generating ships.

“We have clearly stated that the technical committee, which includes representatives from the premier, ministers, and an international consultant, will unify the facts and figures ahead of the negotiations,” added Bassil.

He hoped that this matter would be resolved quickly and that a report on the issue would be complete for Tuesday in order to allow meetings on the case to be held on Wednesday and Thursday.