German firms put forward proposal to rebuild Beirut port

BEIRUT (AP) — Representatives of several German companies on Friday outlined a multi-billion-dollar plan to rebuild the port of Beirut and surrounding neighborhoods that had been devastated by a massive explosion last year.

The horrific Aug. 4 explosion of nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive chemical used in fertilizers, killed 211 people and injured more than 6,000. The material had been stored at a port warehouse for years. The blast — one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history — badly worsened Lebanon's economic crisis that saw hundreds of thousands plunged into sudden poverty.

Several countries are said to be interested in rebuilding the port and the surrounding areas, including Turkey and China, but Germany’s consortium, led by Hamburg Port Consulting and Colliers, was the first to visit Lebanon with a plan in hand that they presented to Lebanese officials.

Beirut's port, with an area of 1.2 million square meters (12.9 million square feet), is by far the largest in Lebanon, a tiny nation of 5 million on a strategic Mediterranean crossroads between Asia and Europe.

But the proposal to rebuild the port cannot proceed until a new government is formed in Lebanon and like most international donors and foreign companies, the German delegation made it clear no money would be spent in Lebanon before major reforms are undertaken to fight widespread corruption.

“Money flows where trust goes,” Suheil Mahayni, managing director at Hamburg Port Consulting, told reporters at the end of the visit. A new government would need to ensure “full transparency so that the money invested is spent to the benefit of the Lebanese people.”

Alia Fares of the Lebanese German Council for Archaeology and Culture said the study includes spending $300 million on restoring historic neighborhoods...