Port of Beirut Plans by German Investors (Renders + More)

The past few weeks have been a very rudimentary carrot and stick approach by the EU to try and prod Lebanon’s comatose government into forming a cabinet.

The stick is repeated threats of sanctioning Lebanese officials guilty of derailing and stalling the formation of a new government, and this German Port proposal seems to be the 30-billion-USD-over-25-years carrot.

I managed to get a hold of the presentation, and I’ll dissect it with you below.

The Assessment of the Damage (2021)

It’s surreal to think that the Lebanese government had another second chemical threat just meters away from where their Ammonium Nitrate exploded leveling many neighborhoods and killing 211 people… What a horrible, criminal bunch in charge.

It’s interesting to see how many times “Civil Society” groups are mentioned, signaling a clear understanding by the German investors of how untrustworthy the state actors in Lebanon actually are. That’s a good signal, even though it might just be to calm the worries of the European Investment Bank and other potential funders of this project.

The Shipping part of The Port Explained

Initially, it was a bit difficult to get the full pitch, so with the initial shots of the “St Michel District”, it seemed to be a newer version of Solidere, with no actual port (as in for shipping) in sight. Several people pointed that out on Twitter and Instagram (myself included), but when I consulted an engineer familiar with the plans, he explained to me the following:

The parts of the port actually used for shipping purposes is closer to the Karantina area (as seen in figure above), further east of Beirut. So the plan is to modernize that part and use reclaimed land from the Burj Hammoud garbage dump to park shipping containers (“jabal el zbeleh” that was turned into reclaimed land from the Mediterranean)

The part where the explosion occurred was mostly used for storing hazardous materials and in essence, a waste of prime coastal real estate that is off-limits to the city’s residents.

That part will be repurposed into what the proposal says is

• Accessible beaches, public spaces, public facilities
• Parks, promenades and affordable housing (really?)
• Better traffic, public transport and parking infrastructure.

So, instead of the area being a space for Hezbollah and Assad to store 2750 tons of explosives, or a space for Badri Daher to auction off stolen containers, it could actually be reclaimed for the use of Beirut’s residents.

The Three Focus Points

The port is only a part of this plan, with 2/3rds of it having to do with developing the Gemmayzeh, Mar Mikhael, Mdawar and Karantina neighborhoods which were the hardest hit by the blast.

No Mention of Memorial

The thing that bothered me the most was no mention of any monument, space or facility to memorialize the crime against humanity that happened on August 4, 2020.

It just looks like the site of the crime will have empty residential towers similar to the the adjacent Solidere ‘s— unaffordable eyesores that are inhabited by a handful of offspring of corrupt politicians and journalists and influencers on their payrolls.

Corruption, Corruption, Corruption

This is the flowchart that is supposed to explain transparency when it comes to the flow of money. The fact that the government is still the same, means this money will be misappropriated and stolen, just like Paris 1, Paris 2 and every other instance of Western funding or loans for projects in Lebanon since the Civil War ended.

Will the West do it again and waste their taxpayer euros on the 128 politicians in Lebanon’s current ruling class, or will they finally learn that any government that includes Hariri, Berri, Junblat, Aoun and the rest of the smaller war criminals’ sectarian parties, only adds to the suffering of the Lebanese and increases the stolen wealth of the ruling elite.

Personal Thoughts

Honestly, I didn’t like the plan. It looks horrible and is too generic, too Solider-ish and Zaitunay Bay-ish, prefab-monstrocities built to attract wealthy GCC tourists that will never come back with Hezbollah in power, instead of catering to the local community.

I like the fact that developing Mar Mikhael, Gemmayzeh and Karantina is a big part of the plan though, and think this should be the case whatever reconstruction plan eventually sees the light of day.

Access to the beach is something the sectarian war criminals have successfully wasted or robbed in all of Beirut.

You don’t have any access to the coast, which is supposed to be public land, anywhere near Beirut, Jounieh, Zouk, etc. and you need to go as far as Batroun (unless Gebran can buy up the rest of the coast there) or past Saida to have access to the beach, that is too often occupied by pricey resorts owned by the same sectarian leaders.

So, that part I like, reclaiming the Ammonium Nitrate parking of Assad/Hezbollah, and Badri Daher’s corruption playground, to give back to Beirut’s residents (without Solidere charging you money for it) is absolutely necessary. Enough Truman Show sets that are always empty and of no real use to the city, in the best part of the capital.