Minister of Public Works and Transportation, Ali Hamieh, on Tuesday stressed that the foreign delegations he received expressed their readiness to help Lebanon, mainly with regard to all projects related to the reconstruction of the Port of Beirut and several projects at Rafic Hariri International Airport, stressing the need to reinstall a new system for managing the Port of Beirut that takes into account partnership between the two sectors, the public and private.

He considered that it is a need to support the public transport sector owned by the private sector, speaking of a mechanism he prepared that will soon be submitted to the Council of Ministers so that the support will go to the people directly. He also pointed out that the Ministry did what it had to do to prevent road floods at the beginning of winter.  

He said, "I am strictly enforcing the law in every corner and in each of its clauses, and when there are floods, I will go out to the media and talk about the real reason because we have done everything that must be done at the level of the ministry."

Minister Hamieh's statement came after meeting with the President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, this afternoon at Baabda Palace, where he presented the ministry's work plan.

He told the media afterwords: "Today I was honored to visit His Excellency President Michel Aoun, and put him in the loop of what the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation is concerned with. I tried to divide the projects into three sections: immediate projects that touch people and we try to mitigate the harm inflicted on the Lebanese.   Medium-term projects, and strategies.

I informed His Excellency the President on the meetings at the level of the Ministry and on the level of foreign delegations who visited me at the Ministry and the World Bank who all expressed their willingness to help Lebanon with all the projects related to the reconstruction of the port of Beirut and many projects related to Rafic Hariri International Airport.”

 He added: "President Aoun has also been informed on the context of the general transport policy in Lebanon. It is true that countries depend on public policies and planning that must be at the level of the Council of Ministers, but it is not possible to overlook the immediate problems that exist, such as transportation for the public and private sectors, the military, school and university students, in addition to  Various types of job descriptions and the mobility of Lebanese citizens and residents on the entire Lebanese territory. Therefore, we will work on a parallel line and relate to drawing up a general policy for transportation in Lebanon through which we try to divide it geographically into regions and work on partnership between the public and private sectors, and at the same time assisting public transport owned who are from the private sector by trying to support public drivers, who need support within a legal mechanism because, in return, we do not want to create a black market to sell fuel to public drivers.”

 

 Minister Hamieh added: “We also talked about the projects of the IMF, and the two most important projects at this level are the roads and workers project, worth $200 million. We also talked about the BRT project for public transportation in Greater Beirut and the northern entrances to Beirut.  This is not related to strategic projects, but about projects that touch people's daily problems, and roads that are not international roads, but the main ones that connect international roads to districts, major cities, and even rural areas.The IMF will send me a detailed report on all that has been accomplished and the remaining amounts in order to draw in cooperation a mechanism for how to benefit from these funds for the benefit of the people.

I also spoke with the President of the Republic on the issue of railways, which is a strategic matter and of course it will be part of the land transport policy in Lebanon that can be implemented according to the BO,  according to the Ministry’s vision, even for a period of twenty  year, but this matter requires a decision from the Council of Ministers.

  As for the port of Beirut, His Excellency the President has put in the ministry's initial conception the necessity of evaluating the reality of the port and dividing it into several projects.  The confidence factor for investors from outside the Lebanese state is essential, and therefore if we increase the number of projects and reduce the investment value of each project, we will be have many investors.  I assured him that we needed to install a new system to manage the port of Beirut, because in the current situation and with a temporary committee to manage the port, the matter is no longer effective , neither at the level of revenues, which has become tragic, nor at the level of management.  More importantly is how are we going to get new investors to invest money with a temporary committee?  Therefore, a new port management system must be re-installed that takes into account the partnership between the private and public sectors.  The partnership between these two sectors has become an inevitable solution.”

  He concluded: "I also gave President Aoun the broad headlines of a meeting with the International Aid Coordinator for Lebanon, Ambassador Dukan, and what is related to reforms and development, how to partner projects that you will  in the Ministry of Works.

 The meeting was very special and, God willing, will have happy endings.”

 

 He was asked about the transportation in light of the high price of fuel.

He replied that the transportation sector in Lebanon is 99% owned by the private sector, and he discussed in the  meeting with Prime minister Mikati, ten days ago, the willingness of the Lebanese government to subsidize fuel for public cars, as the preliminary study talks about subsidizing Gasoline for public drivers and 30 to 40 liters of diesel for buses.  “We will pursue this issue because it solves a basic dilemma,” he said, but I am working on a legal mechanism because it is not possible to support the privately owned public transport sector and be facing an additional black market for fuel.  “The mechanism will be scientific, logical and feasible in all Lebanese territories, because it is no longer necessary to support the public transport sector owned by the private sector.  Therefore, according to the mechanism, we will divide Lebanon into lines and not regions, and God willing, this mechanism will be submitted next Wednesday to the Council of Ministers to take the appropriate decision, so the support will go to the people directly.

 In response to a question about the issue of sewage cleaning at the beginning of the winter season, he said that he invited six major contractors who are known to clean water and sewage, but unfortunately, the Lebanese state owed the contractors an amount of 8 billion and 500 million, and diesel was not available for the large vehicles.  The contractors were cooperative in what I pledged and took upon myself to communicate with the Minister of Finance, who was responsive and signed a rotation for them from previous years.  The Minister of Energy also cooperated with us in providing diesel, and the contractors will receive their dues this week or next week. They have already started working in primitive ways because they felt with us how embarrassing the issue was.  

And last Saturday I witnessed the floods, unfortunately, 60 or 70% of the floods that occur are due to violations and some decisions or permissions that do not take into account public safety and traffic safety.  I apply the law to the fullest in every corner of it and every item of it.  We drew the vision and took to the street, the contractors are present and their money has been secured for them and they have started the work that I follow to the maximum, but in return be confident that I and when there are any floods, will go out to the media and talk about the real reason for it because we have done everything that must be done at the level of the ministry.