Reconstruction activities
1. Roads and bridges
According to the sources of the Council of Development and
Reconstruction, the number of destroyed bridges, in whole or in part, on
the international and side roads is 95 bridges. 70 of those bridges were
adopted for reconstruction, two of which were completely accomplished
until now (details in annex No. 1 – schedule No. 1). In addition, the number
of destroyed roads is 151 roads throughout the Lebanese territories.
According to the first stage of the rehabilitation and reconstruction plan of
the Ministry of Public Works that stipulates the immediate start to
reconnect the regions, 120 subcontracts were entered into to convert and
repair roads by the High Commission for Relief for a total amount of
Lebanese Lira 8.6 billion knowing that some of these contracts include
more than one road or one conversion, which increases the number of
subcontracted projects to 312 projects in all Lebanese governorates.
Furthermore, French, Russian and British technical teams are installing
around 15 temporary iron bridges based on the technical advice of the
Commission consultants. The Ministry shall, in the second stage,
reconstruct the bridges and re-qualify the totally damaged roads.
Since this stage includes the study, execution and supervision of facilities,
the reconstruction period shall take between six months and two years
until the last trace of the last war on the roads and bridges is removed.
2. Communications
The Ministry of Communications started the rehabilitation and
reconstruction workshop of the centrals, landlines and mobile relays in all
Lebanese territories and completed a big part thereof. In the South, 47 out
of 58 centrals that were heavily damaged were repaired and work is still
under way on the remaining ones while the ten centrals that were
completely destroyed are being studied for a global conception to
reconstruct the same in the best manner. The fourteen damaged
generating stations were also re-commissioned and 63 out of 175
payphones were repaired and the remaining ones are being imported. As
for the lines, 60 percent of the damaged networks, which consist of 169
thousand phone lines, were repaired. As for some stations located near
the borders, they shall be repaired and commissioned in the coming period
after the withdrawal of the occupation forces and the deployment of the
Lebanese army and the UN forces.
In the southern region of Beirut, 30 percent out of nearly 200 thousand
damaged phone lines were repaired pending the termination of the debris
removal works and completion of the infrastructure. As for the Bekaa
region, around 80% out of 38,800 damaged phone lines were repaired. In
the North, all fiber optics communication cables that were damaged due to
the war actions were repaired.
As for the mobile phones, the Ministry of Communication and the mobile
companies made all the repairs that included 5 control centers and 13
damaged transmission stations.
3. Power
The Ministry of Power made major efforts to rehabilitate the power and
water sectors in order to restore such services to all regions, especially the
ravaged ones. In the electricity sector, two out of five sets in Jiyyeh thermal
factory were commissioned and most transmission lines were repaired,
even if temporary. In addition, most distribution networks, which works are
expected to end prior to the current month, are repaired.
The Syrian technicians helped repair the damages during the first days of
the end of military actions. In addition, the Embassy of Iran offered a set of
electrical generators for some municipalities and was ready to finance part
of the losses while Egypt contributed with an amount of US Dollars 4
million and a technical team who will work with Lebanon Electricity
Company to repair Siblin station, the transmission lines and the
underground cables and it offered many required equipments.
Furthermore, Algeria offered during the war to store the gas oil in its ports
for free while the State of Kuwait worked to provide alternative vessels to
transport the gas oil immediately after the marine siege on Lebanon.
In the water sector, most of the main drag lines were repaired through
subcontracts by the High Commission for Relief while the non
governmental organizations provided temporary water tanks and mobile
laboratories to test and purify the water for those returning to their villages
in the South.
4. Schools
The United Arab Emirates, that offered to restore and reconstruct all official
and private schools, in the South and Nabatiyeh governorates, which
amount to 216 schools, have completed the rehabilitation of 90 schools
that needed slight and partial restoration. The State of Qatar, that offered
the restoration and reconstruction of 29 schools in some villages,
completed the rehabilitation of 11 schools that needed slight and partial
restoration as well. The rehabilitation of 355 official schools and 5 private
schools were subcontracted by the High Commission for Relief while some
countries and charitable organizations undertook to rehabilitate schools in
many regions, as per the below schedule:
State/Organization
No. of adopted Region
schools
United Arab Emirates
216
South, Nabatiyeh
Qatar
30
South, Nabatiyeh
Development Switzerland
54
Bekaa, North, Mount
Lebanon
Walid Ben Talal
10
Southern Dahieh
MERCYCORP
40
South,
Nabatiyeh,
Baalbeck
International
Orthodox 22
South, Nabatiyeh
Charitable Organization
Farah Al-Ataa
3
Marjehyoun
Caritas
2
Saida
Germany (KFW)
21
vocational Bekaa, South
schools
Turkey
35 units of ready
schools
Iran
71
Southern
Dahieh,
Bekaa
5. Hospitals
The Ministry of Public Health managed to date to rehabilitate and
commission Mays Al-Jabal Hospital and Marjehyoun Hospital that stopped
working due to the war actions. The Ministry is also coordinating with the
bodies entrusted by the United Arab Emirates to restore and re-equip the
governmental hospitals in Marjehyoun, Bent Jbeil and Ourqoub villages.
6. Beirut International Airport
The General Directorate of Civil Aviation ended the necessary engineering
works to restore the runways and aprons in Rafiq Hariri International
Airport, especially runways 17-35 and 03-21 where they were normally run
starting from 17/9/2006 in addition to the services tunnel located on the
airplanes apron. Work is still under way to restore the marine western
runway for four out of six holes were restored and the restoration thereof is
expected to end within nearly one month.
As for the rehabilitation of the fuel tanks, the Directorate is doing its best to
start the work therein in the near future. Such work shall be by a generous
initiative from CCC Company.
7. Removing the debris and rubble
The High Commission for Relief subcontracted the works of debris removal
in all Lebanese regions. So far, 1,045,000 cubic meters of debris were
removed from the Southern Dahieh of Beirut and transported to the
temporary dumps in Khalde, Ouzahi and the surrounding of Rafiq Hariri
International Airport.
As for the South of Lebanon, the Ministry of Public Works signed 3
contracts of debris removal while the South Council signed the remaining
contracts. The debris were limited by the Commission consultant in
cooperation with the South Council to 103 towns and cities of the South
and Nabatiyeh governorates in order to enter into contract to this effect.
The debris quantity reached, according to the destroyed spaces and
number of layers, around 607,441 cubic meters knowing that the final
quantity expected will surpass 1,100,000 cubic meters. In addition, the
Ministry of Works completed the debris removal in the Bekaa region.