Beirut - Marwa Shaheen - Beth:
Energy Minister Walid Fayyad considered that he was surprised by the decision of the World Bank not to approve the financing of the project to extract gas from Egypt and electricity from Jordan to Lebanon.
Fayyad pointed out that the World Bank's lack of approval came under the title "political feasibility study" for the project, pointing out that it is still surprising from this response, especially since the electricity plan responded to all the conditions demanded by the World Bank, and took into account the lowest-cost production plan with the Corporation. Electricity of Lebanon.
He explained that talking about a political feasibility is not in line with any of the conditions set by the World Bank, as well as Washington's assurances, which demanded that Beirut meet the conditions to obtain the required funding, which is $200 million annually.
Fayyad stressed that the electricity plan is unanimously agreed upon by all the Lebanese at this stage, stressing the importance of its implementation to improve the standard of living of the Lebanese citizen, revive the economic movement in the country, and facilitate the process of implementing the most important item of reform that is also requested by the International Monetary Fund to help Lebanon out of its crisis. unprecedented economic.
He indicated that he briefed the US Ambassador in Beirut, Dorothy Shea, on the findings of the Executive Board of the World Bank, requesting assistance.
And whether the last position of the World Bank and the approval of financing the electricity plan is tied to the completion of the demarcation of the maritime border between Lebanon and Israel on the American side, Fayyad recalled Hochstein's statement during his recent visit to Beirut, where he said that there is no connection between the two.
Fayyad warned of the possibility of his country entering a difficult stage if the World Bank did not receive a conclusive answer during the next few days, stressing that he is waiting for funding to push things forward positively.
He pointed out the need to initiate the plan to find out how to disburse the funds allocated by the Council of Ministers for electricity, which amounted to 70 million dollars from Lebanon's share of the special drawing from the International Monetary Fund.
Fayyad explained that the Lebanese Ministry of Energy responded to all the demands set by the World Bank, and there is no reason to delay in securing financing, pointing out that the American guarantees paper that will be given to Egypt to avoid the sanctions of the Caesar Act stresses the necessity of obtaining financing.
Fayyad pointed out that the agreement to supply Lebanon with natural gas with the Egyptian government and the draft transit agreement with the Jordanian government has been terminated, as well as a draft gas exchange agreement with the Syrian government and follow-up work to overcome the obstacles preventing it.
The Lebanese minister announced the completion of his ministry's study of environmental and social guarantees related to the Arab Gas Pipeline rehabilitation project, pointing out that they were presented on the ministry's and the World Bank's websites, and it is one of the financing conditions for the project to import natural gas from Egypt.
During its worst economic crisis in modern history, Lebanon suffered from severe fuel shortages in recent months, which prompted most of the Lebanese to rely on private sources of electric power.
Lebanon, which is suffering from a severe financial crisis, is seeking to receive energy supplies from Arab countries to alleviate a severe shortage at home, but these supplies must pass through Syria, which is subject to the US sanctions law.

The Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati visited Cairo on the tenth of December and requested during his visit support in the field of natural gas to generate electricity urgently.
The international community is calling for a comprehensive reform of the dilapidated electricity sector, which has incurred debts of more than 40 billion dollars since the end of the civil war that lasted between 1975 and 1990.
And about six months ago, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria had reached a final electricity transmission agreement with Washington's approval, to be financed by the World Bank.
And the Lebanese Energy Minister, Tariq Fayyad, had confirmed that the United States, which imposes sanctions on Syria, had given the green light for the project.
The agreement’s plan includes helping Lebanon to extract electrical energy from Jordan through Syria, by providing quantities of Egyptian gas to Jordan that would enable it to produce additional quantities of electricity to be placed on the grid linking Jordan with Lebanon via Syria.
Lebanon relies on low-efficiency thermal plants to generate electricity that use heavy oil and imported diesel, which are expensive and polluting, and the electricity supply is not enough, as peak demand is estimated at 3,500 megawatts, which leads to a shortage of 1,600 megawatts in nutrition.
In the recent period, with the cessation of credits for purchasing fuel as a result of the scarcity of foreign currencies, the Electricity of Lebanon stopped supplying the country with only two hours of electricity out of 24 hours a day, which constituted a severe crisis in the lives of citizens.
The failure to import Egyptian gas and electricity from Jordan will naturally lead to more complexity in the comprehensive crisis that Lebanon is experiencing politically, economically and socially. About meeting the basic needs of its citizens, starting with food, education and others, all the way to electricity.