RDCL Welcomes H.E. Joe Saddi, Minister of Energy and Water.

RDCL welcomed H.E. Mr. Joe Saddi, Minister of Energy and Water, as guest of honor for a members’ exclusive event held at ESA Business School. Ms. Joumana Saddi Chaya, President of RDCL, noted in her welcome speech that “sustainable investment requires stability and security, and a predictable business environment,” underscoring the importance of structural reform for Lebanon’s economy.

Introduced by Ms. Dalia Jubaili, Board Member, who noted that energy “is no longer a purely technical file, but a national issue touching every institution, every home, and every productive sector in Lebanon,” H.E. Saddi started his intervention by acknowledging there is no quick fix to Lebanon’s energy crisis, stressing that rebuilding the sector will take time, investment, and sustained effort.

He outlined three core challenges facing the sector: one of the world’s costliest and most unsustainable power generation models, a chronic supply gap driven by decades of underinvestment, and significant revenue losses from technical inefficiencies and electricity theft. To address them, Minister Saddi presented seven parallel reform tracks: increasing conventional production capacity through two new BOT power plants planned for the north and south, expanding renewable energy, transitioning to natural gas, restoring electrical interconnection with neighboring countries, rehabilitating the transmission network, restructuring the distribution sector, and advancing institutional reforms at EDL, including the planned unbundling of generation, transmission, and distribution.

His remarks were followed by a Q&A session with RDCL members, addressing decentralization of electricity production, the role of public-private partnerships and investor guarantees, regional interconnection with Syria and Jordan, EDL’s collection and debt challenges, and the prospects of Lebanon’s offshore gas sector. Minister Saddi closed by affirming his commitment to working hand in hand with the private sector to advance Lebanon’s energy future.