Lebanon today »The energy sector is preparing for the first government

The Ministry of Energy and Water in recent years is tainted by many question marks about its role and how it works.
With the approaching formation of the new government, the parties put their eyes in this smiling ministry, especially in the stage in which all political and partisan forces stand at the gates of the parliamentary elections, which began to be shown little by little with the parties to prepare for them in the field.

The Ministry of Energy is a polarization center as it is a large and comfortable misery for services and quotas, knowing that it does not play the role required of it, so how should this ministry be managed and what are the most prominent solutions to the problems that it suffers from for more than twenty years?

A question we carried to the expert in the field of energy, oil and gas, Farid Zenon, who emphasized through Lebanon 24 that the Ministry of Energy needs a great kindergarten. It is water and electricity.

Zenon considered that today is required to address the three -dimensional in the ministry to restore it, in addition to politics and reforms, he pointed out that the work of the Ministry of Energy should be divided into 3 clear sections: electricity, water and oil.

On the issue of electricity, Xenon said that Lebanon needs 3600 megawatts annually to secure electricity 24/24, which has become one of the difficult dreams of the Lebanese, to the point that the citizen has generated his energy himself away from the state. He pointed out that the solution lies in the renewal of the state’s electricity generators, which allows it to increase production and raise nutrition and secure them to all citizens, and at the prices they see appropriate.

In response to a question about the collection and the prevention of encroachments, Zenon stressed that it is the most prominent obstacles that prevent the advancement of this sector, calling on the state to strike with an iron hand and work to remove all encroachments and examine the meters and fly records of seizure against violators and aggressors on state property.

And on the illegal generators, he considered that the Electricity Foundation of Lebanon whenever it is equipped with its own generators, this will lead to a decline in the need for illegal generators and thus the state becomes controlled by this matter, as it imports the required fuel and becomes the forbidden matter in the file, with the need to pay attention to the importance of Continuous maintenance and the need to increase the amount of production annually with the development in structures, laboratories and companies.

As for the water file, Zenon considers that the issue requires a comprehensive plan that combines the Department of Water Resources Improvement and an integrated strategy for water conservation and determining the country’s water needs in the future, organizing water distribution and improving its preservation techniques, stressing that what we are witnessing today is a scarcity of rain, and thus a scarcity In groundwater, the best evidence of what we need in these circumstances.

He stressed that it is required today to work on repairing water infrastructure, such as pipes, plots, tanks and dams, so that we can store winter and snow water to the months of drought and the scarcity To that.

Zenon also suggested going to desalination of sea water if we cannot benefit from rain water, or if it is not sufficient for the month of drought, this technology is present in developed countries and is able to meet the needs of citizens from clean desalinated water.

As for the issue of oil, Zenon emphasized that oil is present in the Lebanese territorial waters and its extraction needs a political decision and not a scientific decision, pointing to the importance of benefiting from this water wealth to advance the country and end the difficult economic situation that has been struggled with us since 2019, stressing the need to work To take advantage of the wealth we have by securing the proper conditions for that, noting that today it is required to enter international and American companies in the tenders to give more credibility and encourage investment in this field in Lebanon, but the most important remains the issue of security and political stability.

On the issue of oil refineries, he pointed out that the need today is very urgent for maintenance and development of crude oil refineries in Lebanon, which is an important step to improve the energy sector and reduce dependence on importing oil from abroad, but rather to obtain it raw at lower prices and its refining in Lebanon.

In response to the possibility that the solution be in the privatization of this sector, Zenon considered that the state is able to impose its authority and manage this sector better, and today the new minister, who is expected to be Ibn Al -Kar and works to implement all the required reforms that were previously mentioned to advance this ministry. In light of the international and Arab support for the government and the covenant, stressing that in the event of failure again in the management of this sector, privatization is the only remaining solution to secure the least needs of citizens, which are water and electricity.