The Lebanese public transport sector needs a lot of work to meet international standards. First, the roads are in a bad condition. Also, the buses and the minivans are not regulated. For that reason, the majority of Lebanese people prefer to buy cars because they don’t feel that they can trust the public transport enough. In fact, there are 1.75 million private vehicles in Lebanon. Fortunately, the Minister of Public Works and Transport in Lebanon Youssef Fenianos recently announced that the ministry is working on a plan that will ease the traffic by fixing the Lebanese public transport. The project will focus on improving the transportation in Beirut. Later, it will get expanded to other regions in the country. Four routes will get established. The starting point for all of them will be the Abed Tower clock area, or Nejme Square, in Downtown Beirut. The minister chose this location as a starting point because it has an important historical significance and for the reason that there is a lot of available lands there. These are the four routes: 1) Center – Achrafieh – Furn Al Chebbak – Khaldeh 2) Bourj Hammoud – Sin El Fil – Dora 3) Achrafieh – Mar Mikhael – Charles Helou – Port District 4) Furn Al Chebbak – Hadath – Baabda In fact, the project can be implemented fast since railway tracks and a tramline are already available. So fixing roads for this project wouldn’t be necessary. However, the project is in its initial phase and is not fully funded.
The World Bank and the Lebanese roads
The World Bank is still committed to implementing its plan in Lebanon which will cost $600 million. The project, which is called
Greater Beirut Urban Transport Project
(GBUTP), is based on a system that uses large buses that operate on dedicated lanes. In addition to that, the World Bank has also promised to give Lebanon
$200 million to fix 500 kilometers of roads
.
