BEIRUT: Lebanon approved Monday a plan to reform the country’s electricity sector, a major worry for citizens and the government respectively over blackouts and costs, state media reported.
The reform plan "gives priority to traditional energy sources that are least harmful to the environment, mainly gas and renewable energy," the official news agency ANI said.
It covers the establishment of "infrastructure for liquefied petroleum gas and the construction of a pipeline along the Lebanese coast," the report said.
Energy production was expected to reach 5,000 megawatts by 2015 thanks to the reforms which would be funded by the state, private sector and donors.
The plan’s approval "puts an end to the long debate over the electricity sector, and establishes a clear government strategy to address this issue," Energy Minister Gebran Bassil told AFP.
The minister warned this month that it could be lights out for some top politicians unless they paid their long overdue bills, totaling more than $eight million.
"This is a first step in the reform process," the minister said on Monday. "People will start to feel the changes within a year of the reform plans spanning four years."
Electricity is a constant concern for the Beirut government, which allocates the third largest slice of its budget, after debt servicing and salaries, to power supply.
The country suffers daily power cuts, including in the capital where many businesses and apartment blocks use generators to tide them over during lengthy blackouts.
