HIgh-voltage electricity pylons in Mount Lebanon. (Credit: Magaly Abboud/L'Orient-Le Jour)
BEIRUT — State-owned provider Electricité du Liban warned on Monday that several high-voltage pylons in the north are at risk of falling after thefts of metal materials used to stabilize them. In a statement, EDL said its teams are seeking solutions, fearing that the collapse of these towers could cause "complete isolation" of the North and Akkar from the public electrical grid.
On Dec. 13 and 14, EDL employees carrying out an inspection discovered the theft of metal rivets used to secure the towers to their bases on three pylons along the Deir Nbouh-Baalbeck-Ksara, Adwa-Minyeh and Deir Ammar-Deir Nbouh high-voltage lines.
Bolts were also stolen from other towers around Tripoli, Kfar Qahel and Bkeftin in the north.
These towers are "at risk of falling," warned EDL, which stressed that its maintenance teams "are working to save them, with the limited means at its disposal."
If these towers fall, it will cause "the total isolation of a large part of the North and Akkar of the power supplied by the plant of Deir Ammar," which may also jeopardize the safety of the inhabitants of these regions, "particularly with regard to the towers near the gas company Faddoul" located in Bkeftin, in Koura.
EDL added that theft and destruction of electrical equipment, including cables, has "become systematic in most regions."
In March 2021, disruptions were recorded on the electricity network following the fall of an electricity pylon whose rivets had been stolen amid to high winds.