Lebanon will no longer be able to generate electricity if an advance payment of 1,500 billion Lebanese pounds isn’t secured soon, caretaker Energy Minister Raymond Ghajar has warned.
Ghajar stressed the need to secure the payment during a meeting with President Michel Aoun in the Baabda Palace on Thursday morning.
“We placed President Michel Aoun in the pressure atmosphere that we’re working with so that we do not reach darkness,” he said in a statement following the meeting.
“We have exhausted all resources, and we need a financial contribution and an advance of 1,500 billion pounds to import fuel. MPs in the ‘Strong Lebanon [Bloc]’ proposed a law to give a financial advance to buy fuel to supply citizens with electricity,” he added.
Ghajar continued: “We are going toward darkness, and I think that the MPs will not accept to be witnesses to this matter. The solution is in their hands. We have fulfilled our responsibilities and a source must be found to buy fuel.”
According to the official, electrical generators in Lebanon have been working for around 7 hours a day.
However, in the absence of electricity, the generators cannot continue to operate, as supplying electricity requires a company that provides it, Ghajar noted.
He finally warned, “In the near future, we won’t be able to provide electricity, neither through Electricite du Liban nor through the generators. The situation will be difficult, and getting out of it will be more difficult.”
Ghajar had warned in February that the Energy Ministry could not pay for fuel to generate electricity beyond March.
