By Libya Herald reporters.
Tripoli, 30 July 2017:
State electricity company GECOL has rounded on those who steal repeatedly from power stations, after Sirte’s part-finished Gulf station was raided.
GECOL said cabling, copper and hardware were stolen. It said that these “irresponsible actions” would only exacerbate Libya’s precarious energy situation.
The company has again demanded the security forces better protect vulnerable power stations and distribution networks.
The 1,400-MW Gulf power station, around which bitter battles were fought last year as Bunyan Marsous forces pushed back IS terrorists toward Sirte, 20 kilometres to the east, is almost 70 percent built. The latest thefts will push back its completion date, though GECOL did not estimate by how long.
Earlier this month the state electricity company claimed that the pillage of power stations and other infrastructure had cost it LD 1.3 billion.
