Beirut - (dpa) - The Minister of Energy and Water in the Lebanese caretaker government , Walid Fayyad, announced today, Tuesday, the signing of a contract to purchase natural gas from Egypt and a contract for transporting and exchanging natural gas imported from Egypt through Syria .
Minister Fayyad said, in a press conference at the Ministry of Energy headquarters today after signing the contract: “The importance of this contract at the national level is that, when implemented, it will provide an electrical supply of up to four additional hours in Lebanon, which is in dire need, at the best cost ever. Electricity from Jordan through Syria diversifies Lebanon´s energy sources.
He declared that Lebanon "worked to implement this project in permanent and continuous coordination with the World Bank, which provided its expertise and technical support and the support of its local leadership and work team to complete the agreement and the terms of its financing."
He considered this to be "the culmination of hard work that began nine months ago and would not have reached the completion stage without the hard work undertaken by the work teams in the three countries, which made it a role model for Arab-Arab cooperation in all its forms."
He added that the signing of this contract today "comes as a continuation of the agreement concluded with Jordan and Syria with the aim of importing electricity from Jordan to Lebanon through Syrian territory."
He pointed out that "by implementing these two projects, we will have completed the first phase of the plan for sustainable development in the electricity sector in Lebanon, which aims to secure electrical power in the first phase between eight and 10 hours per day through the use of Jordanian electricity, the purchase of Egyptian gas and the Iraqi fuel agreement, in addition to other sources such as stations. hydroelectric".
He said that by signing this agreement, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and Syria will have fulfilled all the legal, contractual, technical and commercial requirements in order to move forward towards securing electricity for the Lebanese people.
Minister Fayyad expressed his hope that "all obstacles have been overcome in order to secure financing from the World Bank," adding: "We look forward to obtaining final guarantees from the United States, especially with regard to sanctions. Therefore, the support of the United States and the international community will be essential to secure the remaining requirements for the implementation of the sanctions." this project".
Fayyad pointed out that "securing an increase in electric power remains the cornerstone for addressing the basic needs of Lebanese citizens, including electricity, water, and various services."
It is noteworthy that Lebanon has been witnessing severe rationing of electric power for months, as the hours of feeding the electric energy provided by the Electricité du Liban do not exceed two hours per day.
