Prime Minister Rafik Hariri used a conference on developing Beirut as a forum to praise the role of private-sector funding, amid worries about extra burdens on the Treasury.
Hariri’s comments came during the third session of the Beirut Development Conference held at ESCWA on Wednesday evening in the presence of several Beirut MPs, ministers and ESCWA’s secretary-general, Mervat Tallawy. The premier spoke about renovations completed by the government on downtown Beirut and the airport, reminding his audience that much work remained to be done.
The government still has to complete the southern and the northern entrances of Beirut as well as build and renovate public schools, which have been neglected by the state due to its focus on schools outside Beirut.
In reference to the roadworks, he said that “we hope to do this soon and these projects will be self-funding. This is to reassure people who have become worried that state funding means new taxes.”
Hariri expressed his confidence in the future and criticized those who are predicting a collapse of the Lebanese economy within two months, saying the were making people susceptible to “despair.” He described them as a few people “whose number is diminishing and who write (in newspapers) and appear on TV shows.”
Although Hariri acknowledged that the political situation was negatively affecting the economy, he insisted that things were moving in a positive direction.
The prime minister outlined the history of development in Beirut, arguing that those who had left the capital prior to its reconstruction would not recognize it if they were to return here.
“In 1992, when I first became prime minister, Beirut was full of displaced citizens, and its infrastructure was in ruins,” he said. With the southern suburbs in an even greater state of disrepair, the government had two options ­ “either make Beirut part of the misery surrounding it or develop the suburbs and make them part of the capital.”
The government, Hariri said, launched a construction drive to renovate Beirut’s infrastructure and evacuated buildings occupied by displaced residents in order to preserve private property ownership.
Hariri rejected the notion that balanced development meant that projects should be undertaken outside of Beirut, “as if Beirut is not part of the country,” and argued that “balanced development starts in Beirut and ends in the most remote village.”
Tallawy stressed Beirut’s role in overcoming the difficult challenges in Lebanon and the region. She also asked the governments of ESCWA member countries to provide the needed political support for her organization.
Education Minister Abdel-Rahim Mrad stressed the hardships of public schools, saying that Beirut was the country’s most deprived city in terms of such facilities.
Mrad informed his audience that the government would soon be implementing a five-year plan that includes the construction of 22 public schools in the capital.

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