BEIRUT: A goodwill gesture to power-starved Lebanon from an energy company in Turkey has backfired, igniting mudslinging and corruption allegations.
This summer, the Karadeniz Energy Group lent Lebanon a floating power station to generate electricity at below-market rates to help ease the strain on the country鈥檚 woefully under-maintained power sector.
Instead, the barge鈥檚 arrival opened a Pandora鈥檚 box of partisan mudslinging in a country hobbled by political sectarianism and dysfunction.
There鈥檝e been rows over where it should dock, how to allocate its 235 megawatts of power, and even what to call the barge.
It鈥檚 even driven a wedge between Lebanon鈥檚 two dominant Shiite Muslim parties: Amal and the militant Hezbollah.
Lebanon has faced rolling blackouts for decades and outages in the south can stretch for more than 12 hours a day.