The rebirth of Lebanon
Lebanon was once a land of tranquillity, vineyards and orchards complementing a strong tourist based economy. Brimming with bustling sidewalk cafes, quaint hotels and souks, the port city of Beirut was rightfully called the Paris of the Middle East, the jewel of the Mediterranean, one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Renowned for excellent food, the superior Lebanese touch in its services made it a welcome playground for the rich and famous, a place for rich Arabs and wealthy Europeans for meeting, leisure and pleasure. Most of the mountain palaces overlooking the sea were converted into expensive, exclusive hotels. This once (upon a time) capital city of luxury is a historical crossroads between the East and the West, in its heyday Beirut had also become one of the World’s most important banking cities. Its daytime, sun-swept beaches gave way to the throbbing music of the nightclubs in the evening. Blissfully unaware of the catastrophe about to visit the region, Beirut, till 1975, could rightfully be called one of the most cosmopolitan cities on this Earth.
The city of Beirut had the best civic and social services infrastructure in the entire region. Its electricity and water supply, telecommunications and sewerage etc, were models for other cosmopolitan cities. Its support services, including medical and educational existed as examples of efficiency for more affluent cities. Beirut’s western modernity was complemented by its oriental ambience, to many this city was the epitome of comfortable living.
For nearly 16 years after 1975, Lebanon became a free-fire war zone, a country ravaged by its own people with a little help (and then some) from friends. The once-homogeneous community fractured along religious fault lines, further sub-divided into militias and military factions of different sects and/or denominations, some militias being simply led by warlords who were bred and sustained in the resultant chaos and destruction. In the destruction and devastation of their once-beautiful country, the Lebanese were aided and abetted by Palestinians and Syrians on one hand and Israelis on the other. For a short time in the 80s war the US and French came ashore, to return bloodily wounded shortly thereafter. The advent of Iranians since 1979 has further complicated the scenario, not helped any by western countries trying to counter the anticipated move of Shia influence into the region. The abundant orthodox firepower used defies adequate description, the rubble of countless high-rise building stand as living testimonials to the mindless orgy of blood that engulfed the country.
Even today there is the overwhelming Syrian presence, over 40,000 soldiers, some of them occupying walled-off former five star hotels in Beirut while others are camped along the road to Damascus. In the South, an Israeli-backed militia has carved out a virtually independent region, acting as a buffer for Israel from the Palestinian and Hezbollah armed groups that proliferate in these areas. From time to time, armed incursions southwards by these militant factions invite immediate and vindictive retribution from Israel, with non-combatants in the line of fire hardly being spared, in fact bearing most of the pain and suffering.
When Rafik Hariri, a billionaire businessman, was elected PM by Parliament several months ago, his priorities were to (1) restore Lebanon to its pre-1975 level (2) focus on Beirut’s revitalization as the major factor driving the economy and thus (3) transform Beirut simultaneously into a pre-eminent position as one of the world’s leading commercial capitals. In order to do that he commissioned one of Lebanon’s leading international consultants, Dar al Handasseh, to carry out, at his own personal cost (US $ 6 million and still counting) a study of the scale of destruction. They were further mandated to then prioritize the reconstruction programme dovetailed with the development plans for the future. The Consultants went at the task with some relish, the scope of reconstruction in the circumstances can only be described as awesome. Those who have such vision are motivated by an audacity that defies the odds.
The first priority is obviously electricity. In a country that had 1200 MW power available pre-1975, there are only about 300 MW available, giving at best 6 hours of electricity daily. While the rich survive on their private generators, the poor have at best makeshift arrangements, at worst nothing. Because of Lebanon’s geographical location and the paucity of land, it is not possible to take good advantage of the rivers to make the dams and hydel-stations in the numbers necessary. Studies point to the need of doubling the capacity from the pre-1975 level to nearly 2000 MW to generate the economic recovery. Fortunately, Lebanon depends more on Services rather than Industry, therefore keeping future demand to reasonable limits and commensurately keeping the environment relatively clean. In addition, virtually the whole distribution system has been destroyed, new transmission lines have to be laid. As for telecommunications, most of the telephone exchanges and telephone lines are non-existent, these have to be restored. The 400,000 telephone lines that exist mostly have no dial tone, nearly 800,000 more connections have to be given. Nearly 250,000 cellular telephone connections are planned, to bridge the present gap and for the future demands of commerce. Similarly water lines and sewerage have been devastated, restoring old lines will not do, an entirely new and elaborate scheme has been planned. The Ministry of Internal Refugees, Walid Jumblatt, formerly the leader of the Druse militia, claims that nearly 70,000 families, about one-sixth of Lebanon’s 3 million population, are homeless. The lack of shelters has forced them into public buildings, schools and colleges as well as vacant (and wrecked) office buildings. They are also huddled into makeshift camps lacking basic civic facilities, needless to say disease is rampant. In a nation that boasted the most sophisticated medical services in the region, hospitals lack medicine and basic surgical instruments.
Despite the 16 years of war, the war-ravaged economy can still claim to produce the finest quality of fruits and vegetables, in abundance. Poultry and dairy have not been so fortunate being concentrated mostly in the Bekaa valley that took the brunt of the conventional exchanges between Syria and Israel. In the scheme of things, the agri-based portion of the economy has its own priority in the restoration to full production.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, is spearheading Lebanon’s headlong return to full normalcy and then onwards to becoming the luxury capital of the world. The son of a farmer, he is a self-made billionaire, he is setting ambitious far-reaching targets, using the dynamism of the private sector to fuel accelerated growth. The Hariri Plan has at its core a multi-billion dollar project that is meant to revitalize Beirut, using that rejuvenation to spark the moribund national economy. The heart of Beirut was its old Downtown, unfortunately the war’s maximum destruction was concentrated here. The infamous Green Line that divided Beirut into Muslim and Christian sectors goes right through the old Downtown and its palm-lined squares, opera houses, theatres, cinemas and souks dating back to Ottoman times. There is nothing but wrecked buildings in the wake of the Green Line, symbolized by the statue of a torch-bearing woman in Martyrs Square, a memorial to Lebanon’s independence struggle. A statue of a man stands next to the woman, his arms blown off and bullets holes through his heart. Even before he became PM, Rafik Hariri had commissioned the Master Plan to transform the inherent destruction of the old Downtown into his vision of the world’s most sophisticated commercial centre. To this effect Hariri proposed legislation to create a private real estate company, Condominiums, that would take over the Downtown. Property owners would surrender their ownership for shares in the proposed company. Potential investors would match the value of the shares by pumping money into the company. Though challenged in courts, the plan was approved by Parliament last year.
The Hariri Plan would tear down old buildings, many have already been demolished. Two 40-storey skyscrapers would form a world trade centre on the waterfront while a row of 10 storey luxury condominiums would line the shore enriching a new green area built atop vacant landfill. Crowded, narrow streets would give way to rows and rows of buildings, each 30 storeys high. Traditional souks along with their arched alleyways have been deemed beyond restoration and the market would be recreated in a modern shopping centre environment. The Martyr’s Square will be blasted all the way to the Mediterranean area making a boulevard as wide as the Champs Elysees in Paris. Naturally there are critics who decry the wholesale destruction of previous Ottoman architecture. There is also historical interest as the central site is believed to be above a crucial gold mine dating back to Greek, Roman and Phoenician times, notwithstanding the fact that for 15 years the ravages of war had little use for archaeology or urban planning.
The Hariri Plan is as visionary as the man, the Lebanese PM wants to go down in history as the man who resurrected Beirut to its former glory. Mr. Rafik Hariri made his billions in Saudi Arabia, being involved in construction, management, industry and trading. Out of his own pocket, this extraordinary Muslim has educated 30,000 Lebanese abroad, 12,000 in USA alone, spending on an average US $ 75,000-100,000 on each person, approximately US $ 100 million every year since 1985. In the mould of the only other Muslim businessman Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, he is impatient to get things done. He also has backbone, when the Israelis deported 700 Palestinians about two months ago, Rafik Hariri refused their entry into Lebanon, surprising Palestinians and Israelis, acting as a final marker that Lebanon would not be used any further as a gigantic refugee camp for all and sundry. With the war over for all practical purposes by the fall of 1991, the cash-strapped Lebanese Government had effectively turned over downtown Beirut to Rafik Hariri in accepting his capabilities and his dreams. Within two years they voted him in as PM. As pragmatic citizens of a commercial community, they saw in his success as a businessman and his vision as a Lebanese, the perfect recipe for commercial rejuvenation. With only a few concessions to his critics, Hariri is poised to recreate Beirut in his own image, the face of modernity and sophistication, without reliance on foreign aid. By any standards, the Hariri Plan is gigantic and ambitious, the sheer magnitude of its futuristic vision breathtaking. For the people of Lebanon, it would bring back the economic prosperity that the country once enjoyed. Under Rafik Hariri, Lebanon is poised to take one gigantic leap to match, if not upstage, the modern world.
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