By Sami Zaptia.
London, 8 September 2021:
At today’s questioning session in parliament, the chairman of the General Electricity Company of Libya (GECOL) Wiam Al-Abdali said he expects the country’s electricity production to increase from 5,700 to 7,400 megawatts by the end of the year.
He said the company had already raised generation from 3,700 to 5,700 megawatts.
Extensive maintenance carried out by GECOL
Al-Abdali indicated that extensive maintenance operations were carried out, which included stations in Misrata, North Benghazi, Al-Sarir, Zawia and Khums, and that the government allocated one billion dinars for that, which was spent on that pre-programmed plan.
He continued, “By the summer of 2020, the electricity transmission network completely collapsed, and a large deficit in the western wing of the electrical network, and total loads of 7,500 megawatts, and power outages in some areas reached 21 hours, and services were affected.”
Reduction of power cuts this summer
He added, “In the summer of this year, we succeeded in linking the main power transmission lines in Ajdabiya, Zueitina, Brega and southern Tripoli, and we are working on the “Ubari-Fajeej” line and others, which led to a reduction in load delivery to its best rate, despite the weak funding.’’
Direct commissioning without open tenders
Regarding criticisms for GECOL contracting with companies through direct commissioning, “Indeed, we contracted directly with companies operating in Libya, and they have available resources, and we did so in order to shorten time, and implement maintenance as quickly as possible, and the government ratified the contracts and reviewed them by the Audit Bureau, and indeed the matter resulted in the implementation of maintenance work, and the introduction of generating units to work’’.
