No Result
View All Result
Saturday, June 21, 2025
23 °c
Tripoli
24 ° Sat
24 ° Sun
  • Advertising
  • Contact
LibyaHerald
  • Home
  • Libya
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Magazine
  • Advertising
  • Login
  • Register
SUBSCRIBE
  • Home
  • Libya
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Magazine
  • Advertising
  • Login
  • Register
No Result
View All Result
LibyaHerald
No Result
View All Result
Home Libya

Strikes that affect national interest should be banned – Electricity Minister Muhairig

bySami Zaptia
July 17, 2013
Reading Time: 3 mins read
A A
Strikes that affect national interest should be banned – Electricity Minister Muhairig

Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said that the interference by the GNC in his government's affairs was exaggerated (Photo: Sami Zaptia).

Electricity Minister Ali Muhairig (right) . . .[restrict]blamed the Zueitina strikers for the extended power cuts at Sunday’s press conference (Photo: Sami Zaptia).

By Sami Zaptia.

Tripoli, 17 July 2013:

At Sunday’s press conference, Electricity Minister Ali Muhairig repeated his call for strikes that affect the national interest to be banned by law.

Muhairig said that there has been much criticism of him and his government for the long and frequent power cuts that have taken place all over Tripoli during Ramadan. Some areas in Janzur and Sug il Juma had experienced 12 and 24 hour power cuts during the opening days of the fasting month of Ramadan.

The Electricity Minister referring to his statements earlier in which he said “there should be little power cuts during Ramadan” reminded the public that he also set two conditions to that statement.

RELATED POSTS

Hala Ramadan shopping exhibition – Benghazi 2 to 7 March

Libya’s annual fuel bill rose to US$ 12 bn due to increased electricity production

First, he said that provided temperatures remained below 40 degrees, and secondly, provided there were no strikes or acts of civil disobedience. But he also added that he was always expecting short power cuts of up to 2 hours in all areas in turn on a rotating basis.

Muhairig then set out to list five factors that have negatively affected the performance of the General Electricity Company of Libya (GECOL). These included strikes, the lack of security affecting foreign experts at power stations, the theft of public property (copper wires) by Libyans, the stealing of electricity by Libyans, and the non-payment of electricity bills by most of the public.

First, and in the short term, Muhairig blamed the lengthy power cuts in the opening days of Ramadan squarely on the 12-day striking Zueitina Oil Terminal workers.

The strike had led to a cut off of the supply of gas from Zueitina. The Minister explained that instead of receiving about 315 million cubic metres of gas, he was only receiving about half of that – about 140 million cubic metres.

This was leading to a 350 to 500 Mega Watt (MW) shortage. “We have generators and we are unable to use them fully”, complained the Electricity Minister.

Paradoxically, this has meant that the money the government had invested in importing mobile generators from American company APR was wasted, because the strike has cancelled their intended positive effect – it is as if Libya had not imported them, the Minister explained.

Secondly, Muhairig explained that there is a 250 MW generator in Zueitina that needs servicing. However, the German experts that were planned to maintain it have refused to travel to Libya in view of the recent armed attack on the Swiss firm ABB’s employee.

The same applied to the Kufra power station, Muhairig explained. The Italians that are supposed to provide the maintenance needed were unwilling to travel to Libya due to the poor security situation. The Electricity Minister added that the Kufra station has 3-6 days of fuel reserves – but not 12 days’ worth, which is the length of the Zueitina strike.

The fourth reason given by the Electricity Minister for the poor performance of GECOL was the “tens of millions” worth of robbery by Libyans of the company’s copper cables and transformers. The cables were being pulled out of the ground and towers were being chopped down in order to melt-down and export the copper he explained.

The fifth reason for the poor performance by GECOL given by the Electricity Minister was the fact that the overwhelming majority Libyans are still not paying their electricity bills. Whilst 2011 was written off by the state due to the Revolution, in 2012, only 5 percent of users paid their electricity bill.

The Minister did not have an exact number for 2013 but said only a few users had paid their bills.

Muhairig said that the total debts for GECOL/Ministry of Electricity were LD 4 bn and explained that the LD 2 bn allocated in the 2013 budget was used exclusively to pay for the fuel for the electricity subsidy. “We get nothing from it”, stressed the Minister.

With regards to public criticism as to why the Ministry did not build power stations, the Electricity Minister said that power stations need at least two years to build and that his Ministry only received its budget in May.

Rounding up the status of the imported APR power stations, Muhairig said that the Furnaj units were working and online, as well as the Zliten units. He expected the Khoms units to start work in a couple of days and the Samnu units in the south of Libya to go online by Thursday or Friday.

However, he reiterated that with the Zueitina strike, this would cancel out the effects of the import of all the mobile power generators.

Regarding the stations at Bir Sta Milad and Umm Jdawal, the Minister said that work was continuing 24 hours per day. Muhairig stressed that the powers cuts in Libya were only serious in the west of Libya. The east has excess capacity he said which was being transferred to the west.

Finally, Electricity Minister Muhairig said that he expected electricity supply to improve by mid Ramadan (July 24th). He reminded the public that they did not pay for their electricity, yet they “could not stand two hours of power cuts”. You must sacrifice for your nation, he added. “Don’t ask for the impossible, because we cannot provide the impossible”, he concluded his lengthy statement. [/restrict]

Tags: APRelectricityElectricity Minister Ali Muhairigfeaturedgeneratorspower plantsrAMADANstationsstrikeZueitina

Related Posts

GNU to take oath at Benghazi HoR session and budget to be approved at Tripoli session: GNU
Libya

187 new security posts taken over from militias – PM declares victory for the state as all vital Tripoli sites come under its exclusive control for the first time since 2011

June 19, 2025
Interior Ministry’s Diplomatic Missions Protection personnel receiving training in Ukraine
Libya

The Interior Ministry had spent LD 50 billion in 13 years with no result: Acting Interior Minister Trabelsi

June 17, 2025
Interior Ministry’s Diplomatic Missions Protection personnel receiving training in Ukraine
Libya

Nearly 1 million crimes reported to police stations – confirms urgent need to dissolve all parallel security agencies / militias

June 16, 2025
UNSMIL: Warring parties invited to begin negotiations on 29 September
Libya

Libyan Advisory Committee calls on Libyan stakeholders to work with UNSMIL to build unified, sovereign, and democratic Libya 

June 16, 2025
Presidency Council objects to holding of south reconciliation event in Italy
Libya

All recently clashing state and militia forces and their military vehicles will return to their barracks as of yesterday evening

June 12, 2025
Attorney General orders arrests at Jumhouria bank branch for embezzlement
Libya

Criminal proceedings initiated against 141 members of the Central Security Agency and Stability Support Apparatus, and security units associated with them

June 10, 2025
Next Post
OMV resumes suspended Libyan production

OMV resumes suspended Libyan production

We cannot meet all demands of Zueitina strikers – Oil Minister Arusi

ADVERTISEMENT

Top Stories

  • GNU to take oath at Benghazi HoR session and budget to be approved at Tripoli session: GNU

    187 new security posts taken over from militias – PM declares victory for the state as all vital Tripoli sites come under its exclusive control for the first time since 2011

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Sirte Free Zone discusses port development and infrastructure projects with China Harbor‎ Engineering Company

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Libya Energy Conference, London, 2 July

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Libya’s economic reality: limited resources, liquidity challenges, inflation, and need for monetary base restructuring – Husni Bey

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Construction work progressing at Benghazi’s new Tika airport

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
ADVERTISEMENT
LibyaHerald

The Libya Herald first appeared on 17 February 2012 – the first anniversary of the Libyan Revolution. Since then, it has become a favourite go-to source on news about Libya, for many in Libya and around the world, regularly attracting millions of hits.

Recent News

187 new security posts taken over from militias – PM declares victory for the state as all vital Tripoli sites come under its exclusive control for the first time since 2011

The Interior Ministry had spent LD 50 billion in 13 years with no result: Acting Interior Minister Trabelsi

Sitemap

  • Why subscribe?
  • Terms & Conditions
  • FAQs
  • Copyright & Intellectual Property Rights
  • Subscribe now

Newsletters

    Be the first to know latest important news & events directly to your inbox.

    Sending ...

    By signing up, I agree to our TOS and Privacy Policy.

    © 2022 LibyaHerald - Powered by Sparx Solutions.

    Welcome Back!

    Login to your account below

    Forgotten Password? Sign Up

    Create New Account!

    Fill the forms below to register

    *By registering into our website, you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
    All fields are required. Log In

    Retrieve your password

    Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

    Log In
    No Result
    View All Result
    • Login
    • Sign Up
    • Libya
    • Business
    • Advertising
    • About us
    • BusinessEye Magazine
    • Letters
    • Features
    • Why subscribe?
    • FAQs
    • Contact

    © 2022 LibyaHerald - Powered by Sparx Solutions.

    This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.