Lebanon faces power and water crisis

02 November 2014

With frequent power blackouts and growing water shortages, urgent investment in Lebanon’s outdated electricity and water supply networks is needed

Hit by a double whammy of a devastating drought and renewed industrial unrest at the state utility Electricite du Liban (EDL), Lebanon is facing a crisis in its power and water sectors that is bad even by the standards of its conflict-strewn history. The situation has been made worse by the inflow of at least 1.3 million Syrian refugees who have added to the strain on existing resources.

Electricity supply, even in the capital, is intermittent and averaging at best 18 hours a day. Yet not all this can be attributed to the occupation by protesting contract workers of the EDL headquarters since July. EDL operates just over 2,000MW of installed power generating capacity, substantially below peak demand of 3,195MW. Indeed, average electricity output in the second half of 2014 was running below capacity levels, at an estimated 1,500MW. The result, inevitably, is frequent blackouts, forcing the use of expensive private generators.

Little progress

The government’s response has been inadequate, hamstrung by the political vacuum in Beirut that has prevented long-term decisions from being taken on critical infrastructure projects. Although plans were unveiled in 2011 to boost generation capacity to 4,000MW by 2014, at a cost of $6.5bn to be borne equally by the public and private sectors, there has been relatively little to report on this front. Despite some work on rehabilitating existing power plants, and the startup of three private distribution service providers, Lebanon has made no material progress in doubling capacity in the past three years. Although power barges have been commissioned to augment production while power plants are being constructed – the Turkish-owned vessels supply about 270MW – much of the additional capacity has been swallowed up by the Syrian refugees.

Top 10 power and water projects in Lebanon
ProjectOwnerBudget ($m)Status
Water supply augmentation projectCouncil for Development & Reconstruction (CDR)617Design
Greater Beirut water supply projectMinistry of Energy & Water/CDR370Execution
Litani water project: phase 1CDR330Execution
Keserwan wastewater treatment plants and collection networkCDR200Study
Sewerage system in MarjayounCDR70Design
Jbeil Caza water/wastewater treatment plant: package 1CDR46Execution
West Bekaa region wastewater projectCDR42Execution
Potable water network in Jamal AmelCDR41Execution
Zahle wastewater treatment plantCDR40Execution
Sour wastewater treatment plant sea outfall projectCDR25Execution
For further information visit www.meed.com/meedprojects

EDL’s operational capacity is limited, as it is unable to cover half of its costs and is dependent on large budgetary transfers from the government, which last year accounted for 4.5 per cent of total GDP. The recent sit-ins are not helping the situation. Since late July, full-time EDL workers have been barred from entering the Ashrafieh headquarter in East Beirut by striking part-time workers who are demanding full-time employment. This has disrupted the billing process, adding to the country’s cash shortfall.

Water supply

The water situation ought to be better; Lebanon is one of the most naturally endowed water resource holders in the Middle East and North Africa region. But a dry winter with unusually low levels of rain has raised the risk of water shortages. Stories of well-to-do Beirut women washing their hair with bottles of Evian are legion. Many Lebanese are forced to pay in excess of $1,000 a year for tanker water. The continuity of the water supply is only 7.6 and 13 hours a day in high and low season respectively, according to the World Bank.

National coverage of the water supply and distribution system was 79 per cent before 2011, but according to UN figures, more than half of the system is now past its useful life span. Only 8 per cent of wastewater is treated.

This leaves sizeable investment requirements in the water and wastewater systems. Investment plans call for $9bn to be spent on sewage plants and another $9bn on water projects, although there is little likelihood of this yielding much project activity within the next few months.

Bisri dam

The one project that is seeing progress is a World Bank-funded scheme. In September 2014, the bank announced a $474m project to address the chronic water shortages faced by more than half of Lebanon’s population residing in the Greater Beirut and Mount Lebanon area, who receive an average of only three hours of water a day. The project will finance the construction of hydraulic infrastructure, including the Bisri dam, and associated storage to ensure water security.

The project, implemented by the Council of Development & Reconstruction, will see a dam constructed over a five-year period on the Bisri River in South Lebanon that will store 125 million cubic metres of water, filling up naturally in the winter and spring for use at other times of the year. Water will not incur pumping costs as it will flow to Beirut entirely by gravity through a 26-kilometre underground tunnel, treated at a plant on the way. This should improve storage capacity in a country where only 6 per cent of water resources are stockpiled.

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