The so called airport deal which calls for constructing a $122 million terminal at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport and which was contracted to be operated by an Irish firm when completed in four years, has officially been scrapped following a public outrage.
Caretaker Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamiyeh said on Thursday :
“Based on a Hezbollah request, I bravely announce that the contract will not be implemented ,” Hamieh said, shortly before the parliamentary public works committee convened to question him about .
This development comes after the Audit Bureau was reportedly set to reject the airport deal and subject it to the Public Procurement Authority in preparation for conducting a public tender.”
The contract was questioned by Lebanon’s Audit Bureau last Friday . It sent a memo to Hamiya, asking him for information about the project following an uproar in the country over the issue.
The Bureau asked Hamiya whether the public procurement law, the public-private partnership law and other laws have been respected. It also asked whether a public tender had been organized and whether structural, environmental and economic studies had been conducted.
Last June Hamiya, who represents Speaker Nabih Berri in the cabinet ( a close ally of Hezbollah) announced that Lebanon will soon launch an international tender for the construction of a new terminal at the country’s only international airport in Beirut,
But Hamiya told reporters that the cost will be $70 million
All of a sudden the price jumped to $122 million dollars which prompted the uproar.
Many Lebanese MPS questioned the issue and 10 civil society groups, including Transparency International Lebanon, warned of “serious abuses” in the procurement law’s application which “open the door to corruption and nepotism”.
The real controversy over the airport’s expansion reportedly stems from concerns over the legality of the project itself.
Hamiya has reportedly promised the Irish company all the profits generated by this second terminal until 2052.
Ali Hussein a political analyst told Ya Libnan” I strongly believe this was a Hezbollah project in the first place and was scrapped by Hezbollah after the public uproar which embarrassed the Iranian backed militant group . Hezbollah after all controls the airport and all border crossings in Lebanon “. He added , it is very strange that Hezbollah and not PM Najib Mikati ordered the scrapping of the deal “
“This confirms the very sad fact that Hezbollah has attained complete control over the nation.”
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