On Wednesday, the Minister of Public Works and Transport, Ali Hamieh, posted on Twitter about the arrival of the first batch of French-donated buses in the coming days.
“Fifty buses of the first batch donated from France were loaded at the port of Marseille, and are set to arrive at the port of Beirut on May 23, 2022,” the Minister announced in his tweet.
“Aid from friendly countries to Lebanon and its people is always welcome as long as it is unconditional and extends to all its sects and regions,” Hamieh explained.
In March, France’s Transportation Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari signed a memorandum to provide Lebanon with 50 buses to help ease the country’s transport problem.
The donation comes at a dire time for Lebanon as the fuel crisis is only deepening in the country, with the prices of gasoline prices increasing to an all-time high.
More than any time before, the Lebanese people are relying on public transportation for their daily commuting.
Back in 2018, the World Bank had approved a $295 million package to “overhaul Lebanon’s decaying transport sector and secure employment for thousands of unskilled Lebanese.”
However, the said project was not initiated as 2019 saw the beginning of Lebanon’s multi-dimensional crisis, from the inflation and the economic crisis to the global pandemic and the Beirut port explosion in 2020.
