Ain al-Hilweh housing project nears completion
Ouzo shacks replaced with new homes New
homes await residents of the Ouzo group of shacks within the Palestinian refugee camp of
Ain al-Hilweh, thanks to a European-funded project and the hard work of local residents.
The housing project, being led by the UK-based Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and the
European Echo group, will serve some 51 households and 275 people who have been living in
dire living conditions with no access to clean water.
The Ouzo residents were displaced twice: first from Palestine in 1949 and again from
refugee camps in Nabatieh and Tal al-Zaatar at the beginning of the Lebanese civil war.
The group of shacks, located at the western end of the Sidon-area camp, was called Ouzo
because the refugees’ displacement coincided with the war between Tchad and Libya
over the Ouzo border zone in 1986. Residents of the corrugated iron shacks have always
complained of diseases associated with their living conditions.
According to the engineer in charge of the new housing project, Mahmoud Awad, work started
in 2001.
MAP’s Lebanon branch headed the project, which is being completed with the help of
the Palestinian Red Crescent and Palestinian unions and associations based in the Sidon
area.
Awad had earlier completed a comprehensive study of the Ouzo area, which was funded by MAP
and the Echo group.
“The intensive construction work started on Oct. 15, 2002. We evacuated Ouzo and
about 13 work teams from several trades started to work. They worked on the concrete, on
the drinking water network and on building the new tin-roofed homes,” Awad said.
Tin roofs were used in compliance with local regulations, which ban Palestinian refugees
from having concrete roofs.
He added that once the old shacks had been flattened, 2,000 square meters of space became
available. The new housing also includes modern toilets and waste management facilities.
Sewage pipes were laid 1.6 meters below the ground and similar arrangements were made for
rain water.
The homes will also be connected to a neighboring artesian well.
Awad said the construction project was completed by Ouzo workers themselves, after they
won the contract to do the job. The final cost of a single home ranged between $3,500 and
$4,000.
“I can hardly recognize the old Ouzo, when I walk past it. I cannot believe that we
are going to live in it and walk into our home without plunging ankle-deep in sewage
water,” Umm Mohammed Ashkar told The Daily Star on Friday.
Copyright©Daily Star |
