Lebanon unveils plans to rebuild shattered Beirut port

Pexels/Jo Kassis

• Four years since giant explosion
• Little progress to repair damage
• France sponsors proposal to rebuild

Lebanese companies will lead the multi-million-dollar funding for the rehabilitation of Beirut’s port, which will be based mainly on the revenues that the port has been collecting.

Ali Hamieh, the country’s caretaker minister of public works and transport, announced the news on Wednesday.

The port was partially destroyed in August 2020 when the detonation of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate caused one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions in history, killing at least 219 people and injuring thousands more. 

Since then, there has been little progress towards rehabilitating the damaged port and returning its operations to full capacity.

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Last year, the port registered half the amount of cargo (measured by 20-foot-long container equivalent units) it dealt with in 2019.

Hamieh, speaking at an event held at the port in coordination with the French Embassy and presided over by Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, stressed that it was “the responsibility of the Lebanese alone to advance their country and its public facilities”.

The event was held to unveil a French-sponsored proposal to rebuild the port. Mikati said the government would implement the plan “as soon as possible, whether through external contributions that we look forward to providing, or from the port’s revenues”.

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The proposal, which was put together by the French engineering firms Artelia and Egis, outlines three priorities for the port.

These are repairing the damaged quays and clearing away debris from the blast; improving traffic flows within the port, based on a new traffic plan; and solarising the port’s energy consumption, after consultation with the French state-owned energy firm EDF.

The port’s general director, Omar Itani, said the plans would cost between $60 million and $80 million to implement.

Itani said that the port’s annual revenues had bounced back to $150 million in 2023, having plummeted since 2020. Previously, revenue at the port was more than $200 million a year. 

The press conference did not announce which companies would be considered for the project.

The plans also avoided the contentious issue of the damaged grain silos at the blast site. Civil society activists have campaigned for the silos to be turned into a memorial to commemorate the explosion.