7/2/2010
Your Excellency,
We have carefully studied the Electricity Five Year Plan that was published in An Nahar on the 22th June 2010. We undertook to translate it in English and publish it on our blog.
Since 2005 our Center has regularly called upon the successive governments in Lebanon to draw five year Plans for every sector of the economy and every section of the National Budget.
During the past decade, Minister Aly Hassan El Khalil, Minister Mohammed Fneich, and the late Minister Pierre Gemayel drew up National Plans for the Agriculture, the Electricity, and the Industry respectively.Unfortunately, for a number of reasons, none of these plans got the necessary support from the government and none was executed.
Minister Bassil, we congratulate you for succeeding in getting the Electricity Plan approved by the Council of Ministers.
Of course the hardest part is yet to come. First the Plan must be voted upon by Parliament, then it must be implemented. Finally, and that is the most important aspect of the project, the execution must be jointly monitored by Parliament and by Civil Society to ensure that the rights of the citizens are fully protected and that the Public and the Private sectors cooperate transparently to ensure the success of the Plan.
Bearing in mind these points, allow us Mr. Minister to put forward some preliminary questions and remarks:
1. We were pleasantly surprised when we read in An Nahar about your initiative.We hope that other Ministers will follow your lead and adopt similar initiatives. Nowadays most developed countries around the world have adopted some form of national planning that they use to guide their social policy, and the development of their economy..
2. In the Statement of supply and demand based on the Plan’s estimates a shortage of supply appears in 2012 that is expected to grow up to 1,113 MGW in 2014 (see our next blog). Is there an explanation or have we omitted anything?
3. The accounts of EDL for the period 2002 to 2009. How can we start a new project that will involve billions of dollars without at least satisfying the citizens with an audit of the operations of EDL during the past nine years? How can we insure that the previous confusion and lack of control will not reappear in future?
4. Why the Government does not revive the “Conseil Economique et Social” to allow some form of monitoring by Civil Society?
5. The technical terms should have been explained in the Report or provided in an annex.
6. Why the Council of Ministers has requested a progress report only every six months? We need it every month.
7. We need more transparency about how the five billion US dollars will be spent and how the bid will take place. We know that in Lebanon, the private sector has generally succeeded while the public sector has often stagnated. However we shall need more transparency and an efficient monitoring mechanism in which Civil Society will be directly involved.
8. How about the positive effects of an improved electricity supply on: Agriculture, Industry, Environment (less pollution by private generators and the fuel turbines)? How much reduction in CO2 exhaust is expected? Can it be evaluated? How much energy will be extracted from waste disposal? Do we have any estimate?
9. To highlight the national aspect of the Plan it would have been interesting to include in its presentation a list of all the state institutions, the private enterprises, the NGOs, the electrical engineers, the specialists and others who have participated in the elaboration of the Plan. The Irish government did it in their four successive five year Plans since 1990 to demonstrate that their Plan was truly a National Plan in which all the citizens were invited to participate.
10. Minister Bassil, considering that PPP (Public Private Participation) is one of the most significant and innovative aspects of your Plan, may I ask why the Irish experiment of public/ private participation that can be accessed at http://www.cer.ie/cerdocs/cer06237.pdf was not referred to and commented upon?
11. May we suggest that you appoint, soon after the Plan goes into effect, a “monitoring commission” composed of members of the public and the private sectors and some foreign experts to monitor the execution of the Plan every month and issue a monthly inspection report and a progress chart?
Having raised the above points, allow us, your Excellency, to congratulate you heartily on this achievement and wish you, the Council of Ministers, and the people of Lebanon full success in implementing a project that is vital for the measured development and the growth of Lebanon's economy.
Respectfully yours,
CPI The Lebanese Center for Public Information
George Sabat, ACMI (founder and Director)
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