BEIRUT, April 8 (Xinhua) -- The Lebanese government approved on Monday a plan to resolve the electricity problem in Lebanon and provide the country with 24 hours of electricity, local TV Channel Al-Jadeed reported.

"The electricity plan is an achievement for all political parties and no one will obstruct it," Al-Jadeed quoted Prime Minister Saad Hariri as saying following the cabinet's meeting.

The new plan aims at reducing losses of Electricite Du Liban (EDL) from 34 percent to 11 percent in the short term while increasing the electricity tariff and linking it to the price of oil to prevent the company from falling into deficit again.

The plan also aims to reach a total output of 3,500 MW by 2020 to provide 24 hours of electricity supply.

The plan also aims to boost power supply by more than 3,000 MW over the coming six years by building new power plants and using renewable energy.

Lack of electricity in Lebanon has been a problem for many years, as the government is incapable of generating the needed amount of power.

Successive governments failed over the years to build power stations to solve the electricity problem in Lebanon.

In recent years, EDL's budget deficit has ranged between 1.5 billion U.S. dollars and 2 billion dollars, depending largely on oil prices in international markets. Enditem

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