Electricity Draft Law Referred to Parliament

The electricity drat law that was approved at cabinet last week has been referred to parliament on Monday, reported Voice of Lebanon radio.

Speaker Nabih Berri consequently called the various joint committees to convene on Thursday in order to discuss the law.

There was a delay in referring it to parliament because of disputes between Prime Minister Najib Miqati and Energy Minister Jebran Bassil over the phrasing of some terms in the law, informed sources told As Safir newspaper in remarks published on Monday.

The draft law was the subject of a dispute between various government factions.

It calls for dedicating LL1772 billion to fund the establishment of a power plant capable of producing 700 megawatts.

An agreement was reached to fund the law in four installments after some government factions criticized the hefty price of the project.

The March 14-led opposition accused Bassil of seeking to adopt the law without the Audit Bureau’s supervision of the spending of the funds.