Lebanese politicians and companies have not responded to a Qatari offer to build three renewable energy power plants in the crisis-hit nation, as it continues to grapple with a dire economic crisis.

Lebanon’s caretaker economy minister Amin Salam revealed the details of the 2023 Qatari offer in a press conference in Beirut on Thursday.  

The gas-rich nation reportedly presented its offer to rebuild power plants with a capacity of 450 megawatts that would cover around 25 percent of Beirut’s electricity needs, he said. Salam then explained that Doha instead offered to build a 100 megawatt plant after it received no response.

“I will not go into the technical details because it is not part of my work. We must not waste the opportunity offered by the State of Qatar in order to save Lebanon from darkness,” Salam said.

“What is obstructing [the deal] are the same parties obstructing the entire country[…]because in this country, unfortunately, if 48 opinions out of 50 do not agree, nothing will pass in the country,” he added.

He went on to blame “the owners of electricity generators and the fuel and oil mafias”, referring to the privatised power generators across the country.

“The city of Beirut is covered by a black cloud as a result of the smoke rising from the generators. We breathe in toxins every day. How? Should we be silent?” Salam went on to say.

Lebanon’s caretaker energy minister, Walid Fayyad, refuted Salam’s remarks and said that Qatar offer to build a 100 megawatts power plant was under a joint venture between the private and public sectors.

Fayyad said that the project was not a gift as “some claim”.

Lebanon has been grappling with its worst economic downfall over the past five years that has worsened with the Covid-19 outbreak and the devastating Beirut Port explosion in 2020.

The Lebanese currency has lost more than 95 percent of its value to the U.S. dollar during the same period, as the population struggles to access their years-worth of savings from local banks.

The electricity sector has been among the hardest hit by the economic crisis, with the population receiving an average of four hours of electricity from the state company, according to the Associated Press. 

The population have been forced to adapt by installing solar power panels, or rely on costly private generators that require diesel, a heavy pollutant. The Lebanese have largely blamed the ruling elite for the country’s current economic and political state.

The Lebanese presidency seat has been vacant since former president Michel Aoun left office in October 2022 and the country has since failed to elect a president at least 12 times.

The failure to elect a president is due to a deep political divide that widened after the 1975 Civil War. At the time, various Lebanese sides engaged in a bloody civil war that lasted for 15 years, ending with the help of the 1989 Taif Agreement, negotiated in Saudi Arabia at the time.

Qatar is currently a member of the Quintet Committee on Lebanon that involves Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United States, and France with the aim of resolving its political impasse.

The group, formed under a French initiative, held their first meeting in Paris in February last year and met again in Doha on July 17, 2023.

Qatar previously assumed a major diplomatic role in Lebanon in 2008, when it held talks that resulted in an agreement between the Lebanese government and Hezbollah following an 18-month political crisis.

The Gulf state has also stepped up its efforts to support Lebanon and its different institutions.

The meeting came three months after the Qatar Fund For Development delivered the sixth and final batch of diesel and mazut to Lebanon under a $30m agreement signed between Doha and Beirut in August 2023. 

The agreement stipulated the delivery of fuel for six months.

This came after Qatar pledged $60m in assistance to the Lebanese military in 2022. The previous year, Qatar announced a year-long initiative to provide the army with 70 tonnes of food aid on a monthly basis.

In 2006, Qatar led reconstruction efforts in Lebanon following the Israeli war on the country.