France has offered to assist Lebanon in rebuilding the Beirut Port, which was devastated on August 4, 2020, by an explosion involving ammonium nitrate. France made a proposal for the repair and reorganization of the port at the meeting in Beirut on March 13, 2024. This endeavor has attracted interest from all across the world. The strategy covers port infrastructure maintenance, traffic flow optimization, and solar power utilization for port operations. Rebuilding the grain silos that were most severely damaged in the explosion is not mentioned in the proposal, though.
France’s initiative
International money promised for rebuilding were primarily predicated on political reforms that never occurred, therefore rehabilitation of the devastated regions has been done piecemeal with private finance while an inquiry into the causes of the bomb has come to a standstill. The port is still operational, but several plans for its rehabilitation and renovation have failed, including a bold plan put up in 2021 by a coalition of German businesses to rehabilitate the port alongside new commercial and residential complexes. 2022 saw the port’s container terminal given a 10-year lease to the French maritime behemoth CMA CGM Group. The idea, which was presented by the engineering firms Artelia and Egis, was developed with funding from the French government. Rebuilding the quays that were destroyed in the explosion, streamlining traffic at the port, and switching to solar power will be its main priorities. Expertise France, a French government organization, carried out an evaluation and made suggestions for enhancing port security.
Collaborative approach
An estimated $60–80 million would be needed by Lebanon to finish the rebuilding. It intends to use the port’s increasing profits, which are expected to reach $150 million in 2023 after declining during the COVID-19 epidemic and Lebanon’s plunge into an unparalleled economic disaster. Along with leaders of the French corporations, the guests included French Ambassador to Lebanon Najib Mikati and Prime Minister of Lebanon Najib Mikati. Strong historical relations existed between France and Lebanon throughout world war I until its independence in 1943. Due to which a favorable relation was made between these two states. They had faced all the small or big trouble by hand together.
Rebuilding infrastructure
It is clear that France’s backing of Lebanon is especially significant as it symbolizes the core of the global community. France’s priorities in support for Lebanon” is to reconstruct the port of Beirut. Undoubtedly, the Lebanese economy needs a modern, safe, and rebuilt port in Beirut. The fate of the port’s enormous grain silos, which had successfully shielded the western section of Beirut from the explosion by absorbing most of the shock, was not addressed in the plan that was unveiled.
After the relatives of the bomb victims and survivors objected and demanded that the damaged silos be preserved as a monument and in case they contained evidence helpful for the legal investigation, the Lebanese government changed its mind about demolishing the damaged silos.Concerns were raised that days after a smaller portion of the port’s enormous grain silos collapsed due to a weeks-long fire of fermented grain that was started by the intense summer heat, a larger portion of the silos, which were completely destroyed by the big explosion, may also fall. As a precaution, Lebanese police blocked off a major road outside the port and rerouted traffic onto local streets.
Economic revitalization
Hundreds of tons of extremely explosive ammonium nitrate, a substance used in fertilizers, exploded at the port, causing one of the greatest non-nuclear explosions in history. Many have attributed this disaster to the long-standing corruption and poor management of the Lebanese government. Ten years ago, many people were aware that dangerous materials were being unloaded at the port, but they did nothing significant to remove them.
The ammonium nitrate was poorly kept at a port storage after being transported to Lebanon in 2013 on a dilapidated Russian ship. The only way to guarantee that justice is served while the Lebanese authorities blatantly hinder and prolong the local inquiry into the port explosion is to conduct an international probe.
Conclusion
In conclusion, 218 individuals were murdered in the explosion at the port in Beirut, including citizens of the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Egypt, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Philippines, Pakistan, and Palestine. It left almost 300,000 people without a place to live after destroying 77,000 dwellings, injuring 7,000 individuals, of whom at least 150 developed physical disabilities. It also inflicted immense psychological trauma. Between the ages of two and fifteen, at least three kids perished. Thirty-one children were hospitalized, one thousand children suffered injuries, and eighty thousand children had nowhere to live.
