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Middle East

Lebanon Cabinet approves watershed electricity sector reform

Associated Press
Published | Updated
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    A Turkish floating power station the Karadeniz Powership Fatmagul, background, which generate electricity to help ease the strain on the country's woefully under maintained power sector, docked near Zouq Mosbeh power plant, north of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, April 8, 2019. Lebanon's Cabinet has approved a much-anticipated plan to restructure Lebanon's electricity sector, decrepit since the country's civil war more than 40 years ago. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Monday the new plan will eventually provide the country's more than 5 million people with 24-hours electricity. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

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    The Turkish floating power station Karadeniz Powership Orhan Bey, which generates electricity to help ease the strain on the country's woefully under maintained power sector, is docked near the Jiyeh power plant, south of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, April 8, 2019. Lebanon's Cabinet has approved a much-anticipated plan to restructure Lebanon's electricity sector, decrepit since the country's civil war more than 40 years ago. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Monday the new plan will eventually provide the country's more than 5 million people with 24-hour electricity. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

BEIRUT – Lebanon's Cabinet has approved a much-anticipated plan to restructure the electricity sector, which has been deeply dysfunctional for over four decades since the time of the country's civil war.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Monday that the new plan will eventually provide 24-hour electricity to the country's population of over 5 million.

Lebanon relies on a network of private generator providers. Subsidies to the state electricity company cost the government nearly $2 billion a year.

The plan, expected to get parliament's approval, will reform the state electricity company, introduce new pricing policies and boost power production.

International donor institutions have recommended electricity reform as a major step to deal with the massive public debt, one of the largest in the world, estimated at nearly 150 percent of GDP.