Karpowership Has Shut Down Its Electricity Supply In Lebanon
Image Credit – BBC
Karadeniz Powership is an energy company that is responsible for a quarter of the total electricity in Lebanon. The company has shut its electricity supply and turned off its generators.
The Turkish Company Karpowership stated the reason as a huge amount of due payment. The company says it owns more than $100m (£71m) by Lebanon which is the due payment for the last 18 months.
It has also charged legal corruption charges which are denied and thus a legal fight is ongoing.
Lebanon is already suffering from a huge economic and political crisis. So power cuts are nothing new to the citizens and most of them rely on generators.
The main reason behind this unprecedented situation is the lack of government. The country has no agreed to the Government for the last 9 months after the resignation of the previous administration due to the unfortunate explosion at Beirut’s port.
Karpowership, the company has stated that “We deeply regret shutting down and went to great lengths to avoid it.”
It further added, “For 18 months, we have been exceedingly flexible with the state, continually supplying power without payment or a payment plan, because the country was already facing very hard times. However, no company can operate in an environment with such direct and undue risk.”
Reuters news agency reported that Lebanon has a total capacity of 2,200 Megawatts (MW). Karpowership alone produces around 370 MW which is completely shut down now. But the demand for power is far beyond the capacity which is around 3,500 MW.
The clash between the Power Company and the government-less country has taken new heights as it has been going around for a while. Earlier this month, a state prosecutor has threatened the company to seize all the ships by putting corruption allegations.
The company has denied the allegations, however; the court has issued a fine of the lump-sum amount of $25m against the company.
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