Fixing the fuse on Lebanon’s power woes

ENAR

For any economy that can grow despite unnerving political uncertainties, for politicians who have stood firm despite large protests and for a people who faced death, destruction and hardship while defiantly sticking to their homes and lands, for all what the Lebanese have been put through, it is quite perplexing how we have not been able to solve our electricity problem, with power cuts part of our daily routine. A couple of months ago, even Beirut became part of the axis of darkness, joining all other areas in suffering hours of warming fridges, idle AC units and candle-lit TV rooms. Getting round-the-clock power, just like Addis Ababa, Ramallah, Rome or Paris became an illusive dream for most of us. When a number of people died protesting the power cuts in Beirut’s southern suburb Chiah on January 27, 2008, the only official response that was given to their families, friends and