NEW FRENCH PLAN TO REBUILD BEIRUT PORT THREE YEARS AFTER DEVASTATING EXPLOSION!
March 19, 2024Three and a half years after the devastating Beirut explosion, the third-largest, non-nuclear blast in history, Lebanon’s most important maritime trade ingress remains in ruins with minimal operations able to be conducted due to the inaccessibility of most areas of the port. However, Lebanese and French officials this week revealed a new plan to reconstruct and reorganize the port.
The Aug. 4, 2020, explosion at Beirut’s port killed more than 220 people, injured and displaced hundreds of thousands and devastated entire neighborhoods of the city.
Since then, an investigation into the causes of the blast has ground to a halt, and reconstruction of the damaged areas has largely been carried out piecemeal with private funding while international funds that had been promised for rebuilding were largely contingent on political reforms that never materialised.
At the press conference in Beirut this week, French officials presented plans aimed at repairing the damaged infrastructure of the port, reorganizing the port’s layout to streamline traffic, and shifting the facility to solar power. However, the proposal does not address the rebuilding of the grain silos, which experienced the most impact during the blast.
Two French engineering firms, Artelia and Egis, were involved in the development of the plan through funding from the French government. Another French public agency Expertise France, conducted a study with recommendations on how to improve security at the Port of Beirut.
“The plan has been accepted and the port’s revenue will be used to finance the required investments,” Lebanon’s transport and public works minister, Ali Hamie, told the French newspaper Le Monde.
Restoration of the state’s infrastructure destroyed during the explosion is estimated at $60 to $80 million. However, this cost rises to $140 million while accounting for private companies’ infrastructure which was impacted, according to a 2021 assessment by USAID’s Middle East Economic Growth Project.
“We consider France’s support for Lebanon to be particularly important because it represents the heart of the international community,” Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati told reporters.
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