Bassil: Turkish company must pay Eighty Two Thousand USD per day

Caretaker Energy Minister Gebran Bassil declared on Thursday that the grace period stipulated in the contract with the Turkish Company regarding the second power ship has ended, noting that, “as of today [Thursday], the company will have to pay a penalty of USD 82 thousand per day.” He pointed out that he sent a letter to the Electricite Du Liban urging it to be strict in implementing this clause, “since the delay is unjustified, and with the end of the grace period the company must pay the penalty, while the Lebanese government must find ways to compensate citizens.”         

Commenting on the issue of the first Turkish power ship “Fatma Gul”, Bassil stressed the need to pursue investigations in the case, noting that he is deploying every possible effort in this regard.                 

During his meeting with the Iranian and Cypriot ambassadors at the Energy Ministry, Bassil noted that he had previously declared that the electricity supply will increase, adding that the Mansouriye line should be repaired since it constitutes the backbone of the power distribution in Lebanon.          

In April 2013, ten out of eleven generators on the Turkish power ship “Fatmagül Sultan” stopped working, leading the power supply in Lebanon to return to its former state prior to the arrival of the Turkish ship.                

In this context, reports stated that the reason behind this malfunction is the incompatibility of the fuel used for the generators.                  

The Turkish Karadeniz Power Company said later that the laboratory tests carried out in this regard showed that the fuel used in the generators of Fatmagul Sultan power ship did not match the required standards of the ship.                  

The company noted that it cooperated with the Lebanese Ministry of Energy and Electricite du Liban (EDL) to reach a solution in this regard.                  

The company added that Electricite du Liban is currently exerting efforts to provide the power ship with the appropriate fuel in order to produce power.