Date: Apr 3, 2019 Source: The Daily Star Lebanon: Electricity talks power into third day Hussein Dakroub| The Daily Star BEIRUT: A ministerial committee tasked with examining a new electricity blueprint is racing against time to reach a final agreement ahead of a Cabinet session this week in which the plan could be approved. The blueprint aims to overhaul the electricity sector, improve power supply and reduce state subsidies to the state-run Electricite du Liban, estimated at $2 billion annually. The committee met under Prime Minister Saad Hariri at the Grand Serail for the second consecutive day Tuesday in a bid to reach consensus on the energy reform plan presented to the Cabinet last month by Energy Minister Nada Boustani. However, the committee decided to meet again Wednesday, signaling that differences remained over some of the details. The lack of agreement led to shifting the venue of the Cabinet session - originally planned for Thursday at Baabda Palace - to the Grand Serail to be chaired by Hariri with 26 items on the agenda, a Baabda Palace source told The Daily Star. The source said that if the committee finally agreed on the electricity plan at its meeting Wednesday, an extraordinary Cabinet session would be held at Baabda Palace under President Michel Aoun to endorse it. The source also ruled out any key administrative appointments at Thursday’s Cabinet session. Political sources had said the Cabinet was expected to renew the mandate of at least three of four deputies to Central Bank Gov. Riad Salameh after their terms expired last week. During a meeting with Hariri Monday, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Joumblatt insisted on replacing the fourth deputy governor, Saad al-Andari, a Druze, with banker Fadi Fleihan, the Central News Agency reported. Committee members described the ongoing discussions on the electricity plan as positive. The meeting was also attended by representatives of the World Bank and a number of advisers. “There are no substantial amendments to the plan. If we finish tomorrow [Wednesday], a special Cabinet session on electricity could be held at Baabda Palace Friday,” Boustani, who belongs to the Free Patriotic Movement, said after the meeting. Speaking to reporters on the outcome of the committee’s discussions, Information Minister Jamal Jarrah said: “Discussions continued on the electricity policy, more deeply on the plan’s main points, and Minister Boustani presented a document in which she outlined chronologically the steps that require agreement so the plan can be implemented. “A meeting will be held tomorrow [Wednesday] at 3 p.m. to complete what we have not been able to address today [Tuesday], hoping that we will conclude tomorrow.” “We will work from 3 to 5 and maybe more until we finish the rest of the points. The atmosphere is very positive, the discussions are serious and things are going in the right direction and God willing, things will be finished tomorrow [Wednesday],” he added. Asked if differences had been resolved over who would handle the tender for companies to implement the plan, Jarrah said: “As I said yesterday [Monday], there are two ideas. Today these ideas have evolved in a more positive and clear manner, and it appeared that Law 288, which allows BOT [Build-Operate-Transfer], needs to be amended. The amendments will be drafted and presented to the committee.” The committee was reported to be discussing whether the bidding would be conducted by Electricite du Liban, the Central Inspection Bureau’s Tenders Department or unspecified third parties. Jarrah emphasized that the controversial issue of renting more power barges was no longer an option. The main parties represented in the previous and current government had rejected the FPM’s plans, which were based mainly on leasing power-generating ships, for being too expensive. Discussions on the electricity issue have been fraught with political tensions, especially between the FPM and the Lebanese Forces, whose MPs last week traded accusations over responsibility for the long-broken sector. Asked if the short- and long-term phases would be integrated, Jarrah said: “The temporary and the permanent are now part of one plan, phase one and phase two.” He said if things went on according to plan, Lebanon would have 24-hour electricity by 2023. “In 2020, the temporary phase will begin, and in parallel, the permanent phase will begin. We all know that the permanent phase does not require months, but years. According to the plan, in 2022 we will begin production from the permanent phase, if not in 2022, then in the first months of 2023, if things go according to what is planned,” he said. The committee’s talks to upgrade the sector come as Lebanon is under growing international pressure to enact key economic and financial reforms. The Future Movement’s parliamentary bloc emphasized that passing the 2019 draft state budget and implementing the electricity plan were essential to putting the government’s reform program into effect. “The government and legislative work is governed by gearing efforts toward finishing these two vital issues: The [2019] budget and the electricity plan which constitute the indispensable gateway to put the government [reform] program into effect and stop verbal outbiddings and populist positions,” the bloc said in a statement after its weekly meeting. “Political consensus on the adoption of reformist measures that aim to reduce the [budget] deficit and close the doors of waste and random spending is a matter that does not endure further political luxury,” it said. A similar view was echoed by the FPM’s parliamentary Strong Lebanon bloc. “There is a link between the [2019] budget and tackling the electricity issue, which is to reduce the deficit. Lebanon and its economy cannot endure the postponement of the implementation of the electricity plan,” MP Ibrahim Kanaan said after the bloc’s weekly meeting.