BEIRUT: Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Sunday Lebanon was close to launching a previously approved plan to end power shortages in the country, highlighting during a Twitter session that a transparent mechanism ought to be adopted for implementing the proposal.

“As much as I am keen on implementing an electricity plan as soon as possible, I am also keen on transparent mechanisms for competitive financing, which will be subject to monitoring,” Mikati said.

Energy Minister Jibran Bassil is expected to outline the progress of his electricity plan, and ministers are set to renew the contracts of the country’s two mobile phone operators in two Cabinet sessions this week. President Michel Sleiman will chair the first Cabinet session at Baabda Palace Tuesday during which Bassil is expected to give an update on his plan, which includes getting power from electricity-generating boats, a controversial project to erect high-tension lines in the Metn town of Mansourieh and hiring private distribution service providers to collect bills and install meters, among other tasks.

Bassil has come under increasing criticism in recent weeks due to severe electricity rationing across the country.

The decision to use electricity-generating boats currently awaits a report by an international consultant who is studying offers made by companies.

The report that Bassil will present this week says that relying on distribution service providers has been authorized by the general prosecutor’s office at the Court of Accounts but the office demanded amendments to some items in the agreement.

Beirut MP Mohammad Qabbani, the head of Parliament’s Public Works, Transportation, Electricity and Water Committee, argues that the $780 million deal is unconstitutional.

Three companies were selected during a tendering process, but signing the contracts requires Cabinet’s approval.

As for the Mansourieh high-tension line, Cabinet agreed last week to allow residents to sell their homes to the government, if they wish to leave the area due to health concerns, and to resume work to install the lines on Feb. 13. Last year, residents of Mansourieh prevented Electricté du Liban from installing the lines, which they said would put the community in danger.

Bassil’s report states that there are 58 inhabited apartments in the area and some residents refuse to sell their homes, including the owners of a school and a church.

Telecommunications Minister Nicholas Sehnaoui might also raise the issue of wiretapping Tuesday and ask whether the Cabinet intends to implement the wiretapping law which would restrict the practice to a wiretapping command center inaugurated by Interior Minister Marwan Charbel in November. At the time, Charbel said that the center was the only legitimate means to wiretap in the country.

When Charbel called Sehnaoui Friday night, demanding telecommunications data for all Lebanese mobile users amid reports of an assassination plot targeting a senior security official in the country, Sehnaoui agreed to work on the minister’s request.

In Wednesday’s session at the Grand Serail under Mikati, ministers are expected to renew the contracts with Alfa and MTC mobile phone operators in the country for one year, as current contracts expire Jan. 31 and there isn’t enough time to hold international tenders. Sehnaoui has said the suggestion that the government entirely operate the mobile phone networks in the country seems unrealistic.

The Cabinet will assess Sehnaoui’s reports on the matter, which include only the texts of the agreements with MTC and Alfa and no further information on any negotiations that have taken place between them and the ministry.