In this opinion piece, the Director General of the Libyan Business Council offers his analysis and solutions on Libya’s current acute power cuts crisis.
This summer’s high temperatures, power cuts and blackouts have led to angry demonstrations across western Libya. Demonstrators have set fires to blockade roads and barricaded government and state buildings and infrastructure. This included the storming and the brief closure of the Mellitah Gas Complex and preventing it from pumping gas to power stations.
The opinion piece particularly focuses on the electricity crisis’s ramifications for the business sector in view of the Tripoli government restricting access to electricity and diesel to the manufacturing sector. He suggests restructuring and reforming the General Electricity Company of Libya and the Renewable Energy Authority of Libya and opening them up to the private sector.
‘‘Recently, a committee was formed to address the situation of Libyan factories following pressure from industrialists. These factories were directly affected by the decline in electricity supplies and the lack of coordination between relevant authorities and ministries. This resulted in random power outages affecting many factories for periods extending over several consecutive days, impacting production lines and causing significant losses for manufacturers.
The situation was further exacerbated by the shortage of diesel fuel needed to operate generators, despite its exorbitant price, which ranged between three and four dinars per litre!
This committee was formed from representatives of the industrial sector and the Ministries of Economy and Industry, under the supervision of the Minister of State for Prime Ministerial Affairs. Subsequently, another committee was formed, chaired by the Minister of Industry, tasked with providing diesel fuel to factories and institutions in need.
This raises the question: Why do we need one committee after another to address issues that fall primarily under the purview of existing entities and institutions that receive budgets and possess complete administrative structures?
Industrial sector’s power consumption does not exceed 10% of total consumption
What prevents Brega Oil Marketing Company from directly managing fuel supplies to factories in coordination with the Ministry of Industry and the National Oil Corporation? And what prevents the Ministry of Industry from coordinating in advance with the General Electricity Company of Libya to establish a clear load-shedding programme, instead of the haphazard power cuts that disrupt factories and halt production, especially since the industrial sector's consumption does not exceed 11% of total electricity consumption?
Multiple committees create layers of bureaucracy
Transferring the responsibilities of ministries and institutions to temporary committees does not address the root of the problem; rather, it adds a new layer of bureaucracy. Worse still, these committees proliferate to the point where we need a new committee each time to address the consequences of a previous one!
Establishing a permanent emergency operations centre
We are indeed facing a crisis, but experience has shown that crisis committees generally offer nothing more than temporary fixes. It would be far more effective to establish a permanent emergency operations centre comprising the Ministry of Industry, the Brega Oil Marketing Company, the National Oil Corporation, and the General Electricity Company. This centre would manage the crisis according to a clear plan, announce power cuts and supply schedules, define priorities, and ensure that each entity directly assumes its responsibilities.
There is no solution in continuing to manage the same problem in the same way
The fundamental and strategic solution does not lie in continuing to manage the crisis in the same way, but rather in restructuring the electricity sector and opening it up to private sector investment in energy production and distribution. This includes adopting distributed generation systems, connecting them to the grid, and purchasing surplus electricity from factories, homes, and energy-producing facilities according to a clear system of feed-in and net metering.
Renewable energy sector must be reviewed
Furthermore, the institutional structure of the renewable energy sector must be reviewed, either by merging the Renewable Energy Authority into a unified structure with the electricity sector, or by reorganizing its responsibilities to prevent conflict and duplication.
A genuine overhaul of senior and middle management at GECOL
This should be done in parallel with a genuine overhaul of the senior and middle management at the General Electricity Company, utilizing specialized international technical and administrative expertise to manage the sector—instead of relying on Libyans—and to transfer knowledge and build modern and efficient operating and management systems.
Are these solutions not more effective than continuing to form committees and shuffle responsibilities? And isn't it more appropriate to move from managing the crisis to addressing its root causes, instead of succumbing to bureaucracy, apathy, and nihilism, which have unfortunately become institutionalized within all state institutions without exception?’’
Alaref Gajiji is the Director General of the Libyan Business Council. He writes this opinion piece in his personal capacity and not in his profession role.
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