After the civil war in Lebanon, the state of the electricity got very bad and remained that way until now. The Lebanese government is not able to provide the country with an electricity feed that runs 24 hours a day. People have to rely on private generators – which means they are paying two electricity bills instead of one. After many years of unkept promises, Lebanese people are finally getting a new power plant in Zouk. This going to provide them with 5 additional hours of electricity feed. In addition to that, it will save $333 million losses annually. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Gibran Bassil inaugurated the new power plant in Zouk. He mentioned that the obstruction of the power plant project in Deir Ammar made Lebanon lose 6 additional hours of electricity feed. Its construction would have provided people with electricity that runs 24 hours a day. In 2013, the Ministry of Energy and Water signed a $348 million contract with a Danish-German association to build new power plants with a maximum capacity of 272 megawatts in Zouk and Jiyyeh. The two companies are BWSC (Danish) and Man Diesel (German). The construction of these two power plants will take 15 months to 18 months. They will run on both fuel oil and natural gas. Moreover, Lebanon, which is currently reviewing bids, is considering leasing two power barges. The aim of leasing these barges is to give more time to the Ministry of Energy and Water and Electricité du Liban (EDL) to build the power plants. People expect from the barges to provide Lebanon with seven additional hours of electricity feed starting summer. Because of technical problems, the cost of fuel, the poor process of collecting electricity bills, and electricity theft, EDL deficit stands at $1.4 billion annually.
