Hyundai returns to Libya for completion of power plant project

TRIPOLI, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's Hyundai announced it will return to Libya early next year to complete suspended power plant project, according to a Libyan government official.

"South Korean delegation, including South Korean embassy officials and representatives of Hyundai, held talks with officials of the General Electricity Company regarding security arrangements for the Company's sites in Libya, in preparation for the official return of Hyundai," an official of the Libyan state-owned General Electricity Company told Xinhua.

"The Korean delegation visited the municipality of Janzur, just outside of the capital Tripoli, and personally saw the security arrangements necessary to secure the location of the western Tripoli power plant project. It was agreed that the project's contractor Hyundai will return in January or February 2018," the official added.

South Korean companies in November demanded security guarantees for their return to Libya and resuming suspended power plant projects.

Unknown gunmen earlier in November kidnapped four foreign workers, three Turks and one German, who worked in a power plant in the southern Libyan city of Obari, 1,100 km south of the capital Tripoli.

After security forces failed to free the four workers, the remaining 300 foreign workers left the city.

Libya has suffered frequent power blackouts that last as long as 12 hours a day after foreign companies doing regular maintenance pulled out amid violence and chaos. Enditem