Nahhas: Consultations Aimed at Finding Consensus, Not Making Political Gains

Economy Minister Nicolas Nahhas confirmed on Monday that he was tasked with bridging differences among top officials on an electricity project that has threatened the unity of the government.

In remarks to As Safir daily, Nahhas said Premier Najib Miqati urged him to hold consultations with officials in an attempt to find a consensual formula ahead of a Sept. 7 cabinet session to discuss the electricity draft law.

The minister said that he met with President Michel Suleiman and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat in the past few days and he would hold talks with other officials on Monday and after Eid al-Fitr holidays.

However, Nahhas rejected to unveil the suggestions he would make in his meetings.

“We are searching for a solution to the electricity (crisis). We are not seeking to make gains or political victories,” he told As Safir.

A well-informed ministerial source told An Nahar newspaper that Nahhas would meet with Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi and Social Affairs Minister Wael Abou Faour on Monday.

Aridi and Abou Faour are loyal to Jumblat who has criticized the draft law proposed by Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun to allocate $1.2 billion to his son-in-law Energy Minister Jebran Bassil to build power plants that would generate 700 megawatts of electricity.

Jumblat is calling for the formation of a technical committee that would oversee, along with Bassil, the implementation of the project. But Aoun has rejected such a proposal, threatening to withdraw his ministers from the cabinet if it doesn’t approve the bill.