The Daily Star - Mansourieh residents hold more protests against electricity grid - August 11, 2011

BEIRUT: A controversial project to install a high-tension electricity grid in Metn might be met with more street protests, as rival political parties seek the support of local residents.
Village residents hit the streets Tuesday, protesting against the government’s decision to approve the completion of a controversial high-tension electricity grid in Mansourieh.
Families participated in the protest and children held signs with messages critical of members of Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s Cabinet.
“Whoever hurts the health of the people should not be its representative,” several banners read.
Other posters protested being put in a position to “die under electricity grids,” while demonstrators called on Energy Minister Jebran Bassil to reconsider his decision and establish a joint investigative committee of experts.
Meanwhile, opposition lawmakers and representatives of the town’s residents met in the nearby town of Ain Najem. Speaking during the gathering, Metn MP Sami Gemayel said that public health should be held above all other considerations.
“The government has to take a maximum level of precautionary measures,” said Gemayel.
The lawmaker also argued that the grid project could be made safer.
If high-tension electricity grids could be run underground in some populated areas in the country, “then the same could be done here,” he said.
Participants also condemned the absence of MPs from the Free Patriotic Movement at the meeting. However, Metn MP Ibrahim Kanaan said Wednesday that he had not received any invitation to attend.
“I wasn’t notified of the meeting that took place in Ain Najm … but I will support any solution that preserves the health of families and guarantees the availability of power in the country,” Kanaan told a local radio station.
As energy minister under former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s government, Kanaan’s fellow FPM official Bassil had repeatedly come out against the controversial project in Manourieh. But following the collapse of Hariri’s government, Bassil reconsidered his stance, coming to the decision that it was necessary to carry out the project to ensure power in the area.
Residents have tried to obstruct the work of the project, over worries that the high-tension electricity grid would pose health risks, especially to children.
Amid the strong objections from Mansourieh residents, Bassil has requested that security forces escort engineers for the project to ensure its implementation.