Privatization of power supply in Lebanon

Plagued by corruption, illegal connections, mismanagement, and more than $300 million in annual deficit, Electricite du Liban (EDL), the vertically integrated government owned Power Company, has become a financial burden on the Lebanese public sector. The following paper proposes a strategy for its privatization. We first start by exposing the relevant characteristics of the country, the current socio-economic situation and the factors that have led to the recent calls for privatization. We then focus our discussion on the power sector and on EDL, identifying the problems that have undermined its operations. The second part of the paper tries, based on an overview of three case studies, to define the different market models available and the requirements, strengths and weaknesses of each model. Finally, based on the country's and sector's specificities, we recommend a two-phase privatization strategy that calls for a corporatization and restructuring transitional phase preceding a limited form of wholesale competition.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2002

Author dc:creator

• Samaha, Melhem, 1977-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Fred Moavenzadeh.

• Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/47912

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/47912