Lebanon is seeking help from the World Bank to fund the project of generating electricity using Egyptian gas, Lebanese caretaker Energy Minister Raymond Ghajar announced on Wednesday.
“We are working with the World Bank to provide the right financial cover [for the project],” Ghajar stated during a meeting in Jordan.
Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt are holding the meeting in Amman to discuss various aspects of the plan, including logistics and readiness of infrastructure.
The meeting is expected to result in the creation of specialized technical, financial, administrative, and logistic committees, energy expert Hashem Akl said in a radio interview on Wednesday.
The project, which will involve connecting Jordanian and Lebanese power infrastructure, faces no major technical obstacles, except for the required maintenance of damaged transmission towers in southern Syria, Akl noted. The maintenance process will need weeks to complete.
Syria has already approved Lebanon’s request to have electricity transmitted through its territory for this plan.
This project is expected to cover around a third of Lebanon’s total electricity needs, in a time when the country is barely supplying its people with power amidst an ongoing economic meltdown.
