Revival of the railways and RKIEC in order to boost the economy in North Lebanon

Public, economic institutions, as well as CSO of Tripoli and North Lebanon persist in their attempts to revive the deteriorating economic situation in Lebanon’s second capital.  In its issue of September 10th, L’Orient le Jour focused on current work plans to rehabilitate the railways which link Tripoli to Abbudyeh on the border with Syria, and which is likely to start soon as per the President of the Chamber of Tripoli and North Lebanon, Tufic Dabbussi.  This new development follows the release of funds allocated for the first phase this project by the Council for Development and Reconstruction and which amount to USD 20 million.  To be noted that this railway link is expected to play an important role in the future reconstruction of Syria.  The CDR engineer in charge of this project noted that the overall cost requires an additional USD 60 million, adding that the CDR is now discussing with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) the likelihood of receiving this balance as a loan.  Also, and according to the newspaper, both Lebanon and the IDB have suggested to the World Bank that it joins the project as a partner and the latter is considering this option. Meanwhile, the Rashid Karameh International Exhibition Centre (RKIEC) in Tripoli remains comatose because of a number of factors namely the laws which should regulate the management of these premises, the unstable security situation and the size of private sector investment and that is according to the Centre’s CEO, Hussam Qobaiter. A reminder that the project was first established in the 1960s, in order to foster the development of the marginalized areas of the North including the city of Tripoli.  Meanwhile, Tripoli is in the midst of preparing for the launch of the round table to combat increasing poverty, an initiative organized by the Syndicate of Engineers in the North in response to calls for social and economic stakeholders in the North who are also calling for an emergency social-economic conference to come up with a comprehensive social and economic plan for all marginalized areas in the region. (L’Orient le Jour and Al Mustakbal, September 10th, 12th and 15th)

 

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New attempts to revive the waning economic situation in Tripoli and the North